Tuesday dinner

Our dinner:

Salmon sandwiches with spinach and a drizzle of this amazing mayonnaise with my beautiful changes! What were my changes? I omitted the Sirachi sauce or whatever it is called and added a few spoons of chipotle chilis. SO delicious! My husband LOVED the mock mayonnaise and I think I will start keeping it on hand. I served the sandwiches with blanched broccoli and a splash of a sweet balsamic vinegar. 

DELICIOUS cabbage salad

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mayo-Free-Cabbage-Salad/Detail.aspx

I shredded two heads of cabbage in the food processor and doubled all the ingredients but used less sugar and oil than called for. This was so good! I took it to a church potluck and it was a hit!

Today's healthier choices

Today:

Rainbow salad with healthy, homemade dressing
Portabella mushroom pizzas

Rainbow salad:
I threw baby spinach leaves, mixed salad greens and cut up Romaine lettuce in a big salad bowl and used my handy salad shooter for all the colors. A quick note on salad shooters... I got my first at the Salvation Army for under $3.00 years ago. I used it until the motor gave out and I used it a LOT. Right before it gave out, I bought one I found at Goodwill for under $6.00. I gave it to my DIL and blessed being that she is... she gave it to me when I was despondent over the high prices new shooters costs. To explain things a bit so I don't look like someone who gives and grabs back ... the shooter hadn't been used and she was only keeping it for making salads when company visited. We live close enough that I told her she can let me know if she ever needs it and she has a bit more space in her little kitchen.
ONTO... the food! Right onto my greens, I shredded cucumbers, celery, beets, onions, cabbage, carrots, yellow squash, and I don't recall the rest.

The portabella pizzas were turned upside down (stem and brown inner side scraped out) and a little spaghetti sauce was spread in each "crust". I added 1 teaspoon of Ricotta cheese to each pizza, 1/2 ounce of sharp cheddar and 1/2 ounce of goat cheese. I topped each with shredded carrots, shredded onions, shredded cabbage, and shredded beets. I know it sounds bad but it somehow worked. I put these in the oven at 400 degrees until the toppings were bubbly. I've made these mushroom pizzas for years and I don't think a batch ever turns out the same!

Dinner:
Nut meat veggie burgers on bread (had no buns) with mayonnaise or cashew ranch dressing, tomato slices (salted and peppered) along with Romaine lettuce, mustard and ketchup.

Rainbow salad left from lunch.
Spaghetti squash with a drizzle of olive oil and seasonings.

Nut meat veggie burgers:
3-4 carrots, peeled
1 onion, peeled and quartered
one splash of OACV (wanted lemon juice but I used the last of what I had on lunch!)
1 cup of pecans
1 cup of almonds
seasonings
Sauteed mushrooms (in Worcestershire sauce, light soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar)
A sprinkle of chili powder, a dash of liquid smoke, a squeeze of chipotle mustard and another of barbecue sauce.
All the ingredients went into the food processor using the S blade. I pulsed/chopped until holding together. I had to work to make these stay together on a greased cast iron grill. I topped some of them with sharp cheddar and they were delicious in flavor but I need something to make them less soft next time. They were still a hit.

That is all for now!

First post of Fall

Tonight's dinner:

Chicken breast (made in the pressure cooker last night) pulled from the bone, de-skinned and sliced. Sauteed in a cast iron with freshly sliced portabella mushrooms and a drizzle of olive oil, shake of pink Himalayan salt and ground peppercorns. This went into a serving dish and I sauteed some chopped garlic (my 10 year old son loves this chore ;) and let it heat up until fragrant and added to the chicken and mushrooms.

We are also having broccoli after I finish dunking it in some boiling water for a couple of minutes and then giving a few stirs in the same skillet I made everything else. This will be served with toasted tri-colored couscous and baby spinach leaves. I might grate some Parmesan or really sharp cheddar cheese over the top and serve with pan seared, whole grain bread.

It feels good to be back in the kitchen! I mean, I've been in the kitchen almost constantly but everything has been such a blur of activity and rushing from one thing to the next. I love it when I can bring something together and experience it more than just flinging it from pan to plate.

My husband made very fattening smoothies with eggnog, nutmeg and bananas so it is a good thing we are all hopping back to healthy tomorrow!

Earlier summer garden notes

A post I just noticed not sent from earlier on this summer: (an update: the garden is almost gone! All we have left are some peppers, basil, and possibly watermelon! We are making plans for a fall/winter garden now. )

How are you?

Share from your kitchens!

Share from your living areas!

Share from your gardens!

Share, share!

How is your homemaking?

Things here are overflowing with blessings.

There have been some scary situations… some sad moments and reflections and things haven’t been perfect. What I’m choosing to focus on is the light flowing through our lives and that light is from the Lord. He pours it down from heaven and surrounds us with beauty so bountiful that the world’s countless words cannot come close to explaining it.  Here, we  are growing our best gardens ever, we are happy in our new (to us) home and still studying nutrition in research, reading, and almost living in the kitchen some days.

My husband lost 41 pounds and won a Biggest Loser contest at work and since I started my weight loss journey three years ago… I have lost 36 pounds. I prayed over this and I believe God has been showing the way to go and it is an ongoing thing… not just a one ditch effort.

We have tried herb gardens, vegetable gardens, berries, flowers, you name it over the years. With all we put in… we haven’t yielded a great deal of harvest. The closest was one of my many herb gardens but something happened the next year and it never did well again. This year, I prayed over our seeds, seedlings, soil, land, and on and on and the Lord just blessed and blessed and blessed some more! I honestly don’t know that we have lost ONE plant! We WAY OVER PLANTED in hopes to have at least some success but every spot has not only survived but THRIVED! I even won a contest from www.seedsofchange.org (I think that is it) and got 50.00 worth of seeds for FREE!

We have three kinds of watermelons, three types of cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, yellow peppers, red peppers, rainbow chard, yellow squash, carrots, purple pole beans, basil, parsley, okra, egg plant, pineapple sage, sage, rosemary, lemon balm, dill, cilantro, several kinds of tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, specialty peppers, cantaloupe, honeydew, nasturtiums, zucchini, beets, sweet potatoes, oregano, chives, chamomile, lavender, sweet mint, peppermint, German thyme, lemon thyme, hanging strawberries, and some flowering beauties left here by my beautiful MIL when she moved.

We are so in awe of God’s work every time we mulch, weed, gather, water, and so on.

I am also doing something I have tried for around 15 years now without the first sign of success …ever. I am growing aloe! Everyone I EVER had died no matter what advice I followed or how I followed it! Now? I have so many and more being potted every few weeks! I have two nice sized ones in pottery pots on each side of our back door (inside) and another one in a planter basket on one of the end tables. I have a stone fire place front/floor/shelf and there are a row of them there. I have a huge one (a gift someone had for like 10 years) in a terra cotta pot in the dining room, a vintage bowl full of little pots of them and some on the front porch! I used cacti soil mixed with some organic potting soil and some in regular soil and others in just organic potting soil. They are doing SO well!

My daily rhythm is basically:

Getting up around 4:30 or 5:00 am with my husband and making his coffee for then and a cup to go as well as a cup for me ;) I make his breakfast (oatmeal, eggs and garden squash with onions, or grits) and sometimes a smoothie or juice.

When he leaves, I have been sitting down with my coffee and doing my quiet time… reading the Word, praying, prayer journaling and so on. This morning I changed the schedule around. Now, I am heading to the gardens before Bible time to beat the heat. I may start reading but as soon as the sun rises, I head out with my garden hat on and hand shears in gloved hand ;) I take a good look at everything, weed here and there, mulch where needed, water if necessary, and gather anything ripe and ready! I want a lovely basket or something for gathering new cucumbers, basil leaves, pineapple sage, tomatoes, okra, rainbow chard, peppers, peppers, and more peppers! 

Lunch

My daughter and I just enjoyed this nut meat mixture along with veggie filled/fried eggs and on top of a mixed salad.

Prayer Places

There is a television episode with Charles Stanley aired on August 18th, 2013, titled: God's Stress Remover. This sermon has had SUCH an impact on me... on my emotions, heart, and mind!
If you have access to something capable of playing a video... I HOPE you will take the time out of your day, evening, or week end to watch this.

I have watched this and taken notes on it and shared it with anyone who was willing to listen. It is that good...
Love,
Sandy
Note: I'll share more on this after you've had a chance to hear about it.