Fresh Summer Produce Stir-Fry

Since I work at the produce stand, I get a killer deal on fruits and veggies.  Boy, am I ever taking advantage of it!  I figured I'd make my own stir-fry tonight, just for fun, and if it turned out well, I'd post it.

It turned out better than well!!  Oh, wow!!!!  Here goes:

1 medium eggplant
2 zucchini
2 summer crookneck squash
1 small yellow onion
1 large tomato
Canola or olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp McKay's beef or chicken flavoring
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 C. cashews
1 Tbsp sesame oil

Cooked whole wheat pasta

Heat canola or olive oil in pan on medium.  Add onion and saute until clear.  Meanwhile, chop vegetables either into cubes or slices, depending on your preference.  Add paprika and McKay's, stirring throughout.  Add zucchini and summer squash, covering with a lid and stirring occasionally until it starts to soften.  Add eggplant and stir, covering for a couple more minutes.  Add tomatoes and cashews, stirring and allowing to simmer.  Add soy sauce and cover, cooking for a few more minutes, until tomatoes have softened a bit.  Uncover and drizzle sesame oil, allowing to cook for no longer than 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and spoon over warm pasta.

Notes:  I added a few drops of lemon olive oil to my pasta, which played nicely off of the nutty flavors in the mix.  You could change this to any summer vegetable you have on hand; carrots, broccoli, snap peas, asparagus, red bell peppers, would all be really good with this.  The mixture will become a bit watery due to the reduction of the vegetables, but it just adds a little more flavor to the pasta.  You could also serve this over brown rice.

Every dinner should have this much color in it.

 The finished product.

Fried Green Tomatoes

I'm not referring to the movie, or the book, although the story is spell-binding and the movie is one of my favorites of all-time.  I'm talking about the actual food.  I had never tried it, it seemed so, well, Southern.  The produce stand had some requests for green tomatoes and I figured it was as good a time as any to give them a try.

I wasn't sure what was involved, but it's pretty cut and dry.  They're unripened tomatoes that are breaded and fried.  Pretty easy, right?  Except that now I am working on a vegan diet so I can't use egg as a binder.  I know, there are egg substitutes, but in case you haven't heard, I'm really cheap and won't drive all over the place for fake eggs.  Call me crazy....  I decided to use homemade "buttermilk".

I started with 4 decent sized green tomatoes and sliced them like I would if I were making a sandwich.  In a plate, I poured unbleached flour.  Another plate held Italian seasoned bread crumbs.  In a measuring cup, I put in 1 Tbsp. white vinegar and then enough regular almond milk to equal 1 C.  I let it set a couple of minutes until it "curdled" and then poured it into a bowl.  Meanwhile, I heated canola oil in a pan on med-high.

I coated each slice with the flour, then dipped it into the buttermilk.  Next, I placed it in the bread crumbs and pressed the crumbs onto the slices firmly.  I then fried each slice for about 3 minutes each side, placing them on paper towels afterward to drain the excess oil.

These were so good!  I think I may have found my new favorite food!  They were just a little tangy but still had a slight tomato flavor to them.  Alicia also gave it two thumbs up, but Reece was afraid to try them and Mike was at work.  I will definitely be making these again.

National Day of Prayer

Today is National Day of Prayer, my mom's 61st birthday, and Cinco de Mayo.  I only celebrate two of these things.

This Day of Prayer was pretty special.  It comes directly on the heels of the death of Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the attack on 9/11, a day I will never forget.  In light of that, I'm going to share a video put together around a song my brother-in-law's band Tesla did called "Heaven Nine Eleven". 

I share the sentiment in the song, Heaven's looking better every day.

Death by Sinuses

Yes, it's that time in the valley again.  They're busy harvesting crops.  That means that all sorts of junk will be stirred up.  Also, there are a lot of crops still in bloom, which means more pollen in the air as well.

It's not good for my allergies.


I've been staying busy with trying to keep the house clean, the kids from beating the snot out of each other, and church activities.  I've also been looking for work, something I haven't had to do for a very long time.  I keep hoping a really high paying job will just fall out of the sky and into Mike's lap, but that hasn't happened yet.  Then, I hope that a really cool, high paying job will fall into MY lap, one that will allow me to stay home with the kids and still be able to homeschool around Mike's hours, but of course, that isn't happening, either.

So I try to stay busy and not think about being behind on the bills and stress about the future.

I could really use some prayer.

Easter Reflection

"Immediately the rooster crowed the second time.  Then Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept." Mark 14:72

"When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might to to anoint Jesus' body.  Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"  But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.  As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.  "Don't be alarmed, " he said, "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen! He is not here.  See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "  Mark 16:1-7, NIV

In his sermon yesterday, Pastor Cano told us how Peter had betrayed Christ maybe even more than Judas.  Yes, Judas gave Jesus up for some silver, but Peter said he would never leave Christ, and then did so out of fear.  Judas wasn't even denying his role at this point, and when Jesus said that he would betray him, Judas remained silent and then slipped away shortly to do just that.  But Peter, Peter said he would never deny Christ, and I think he really thought that at the time, but then went on to deny him not once, not twice, but three times.

We're all Peters.  We all sin and many of us have denied Christ out of fear.  We may not deny Him with our words, as Peter did, but we deny him with our actions and our thoughts.  But there's good news!!!  Just like Peter, we have forgiveness!!

The angel said to go tell the others and Peter.  Can you imagine how Peter must have felt at that moment?  The Man he had walked with for three years, with whom he ate, slept, talked, was dead and Peter not only didn't try to help Him, but swore that he didn't even know Him.  Peter mourned and grieved and felt the deepest sense of guilt and loss for hours, days.  That Sabbath, the Sabbath with Jesus, in what seemed to Peter to be eternal rest, must have been the most grueling time of Peter's life.

Can you picture the reflection that Peter must have done in that time?  The praying and pleas for forgiveness?  I am sure that Peter was broken like no other.  He must have felt that there was no way he could ever make up for what he did.

And he was right, he couldn't.  None of us could ever atone for the sin we commit.  Praise God for the gift He has given; His only Son!!  We are so undeserving of it, and yet He gave it freely.

I will be spending today with my family, all of us eating too much and having a loud, crazy time, which is typical of any of our family gatherings.  Before everyone gets here, though, I had to sit down and reflect again on what we're really celebrating.  We're celebrating, the day after the Sabbath rest and reflection, the promise that God gave us - forgiveness and eternal life through the sacrifice made through the Son.

That promise is the only reason to go on.  I praise Him for it.

Walking and Riding and Selling, Oh My!

What a long weekend that was!!  So tiring that I didn't even find time to post until today, two days later.

First, Saturday.  I thought (mistakenly, it turned out) that I wouldn't have deacon duty.  I had a feeling I should double-check, but wanted to have faith.  I did end up teaching the Primary class with zero preparation.  Thankfully, one of the teachers had left her teacher's edition of the lesson there so I was able to do it.  We had 8 kids in class!!  Praise God, but wow, that was a big turn-out for alumni weekend.

I found out at the end of class that I did indeed have deacon duty.  That's fine, I am an adaptable person.  I made it through the service without any problems and got the church all locked up and secured and headed home to change and go to the Relay for Life.

I grabbed the goodies I had made for my team and headed out.  I made cinnamon rolls (as they requested), banana bread (to use up old bananas), and blueberry cobbler.

It was so nice to see my old friends all together again.  We have such fun when we get together.  I said something about it being our annual reunion and Harry said we need to make it at least bi-annual.  I have to agree.  We should meet every quarter!!

Somehow, I didn't get a picture of Harry, but here's Bill and Traci with the cinnamon rolls they started requesting months ago.

Each hour of the relay has a different theme, such as 80's, prom, luau.  One of the themes is the bra lap.  Bill didn't walk, but still showed some enthusiasm for it.

They do treat the teams well.  They provided a free lunch for the walkers, but I didn't eat it.  It was grilled chicken, beans, salad, and a roll.  Since I'm a vegetarian, I passed.

At dusk, they start lighting the luminaries, which are the bags commemorating people lost to cancer.  It's a sad, sad thing to see all of those bags lining the track.  They are side-by-side around a track that measures 1/4 of a mile.  Sadly, there are so many more that could be put out there from our small city alone.

At about 11:00, Bill walked me to my car, which was parked almost as far away as my house, ha ha, and I drove home to meet Mike as he got home from work.  I fell asleep somewhere around 12:30.

I was up again by 5:30 and was really tired.  I quickly got ready and headed to Atwater, where the kids were staying with my mom.  Why was I up so early?  Because Alicia had her Pathfinder bike-a-thon is why!  I was in Atwater at about 6:30, needing to be at Castle Air Base (where the bike-a-thon was held) by 7.  The kids weren't up yet!!  I could not believe it!!  My mom actually slept in?!

I rushed and got them ready and we were headed out the door.  We got to the site just in time to help set up the club's booth.  Alicia wasn't riding because she has some trouble with her balance.  By some, I mean that she falls over every couple of pedals.  It's something we're working on and hopefully by next year's event she'll be ready to ride.  Since she wasn't riding, she got to help work the booth by handing out churros and collecting payment.  

 

Our conference president and his wife stopped by to show their support to the Pathfinders.  We feel especially close to them as their son is our dear pastor.  Elder Cano even rode 3 laps around the track!

There was some really good food there.  Not necessarily good for you, but yummy!!!!

 

Here's my lunch, crazy fries.  They skewered potatoes and then sliced them with a spiral slicer.  Opened up the potatoes by pulling them down the skewer and soaking in water.  Then they deep-fried the whole thing.  We got to pick the toppings we wanted.  I chose seasoned salt, lemon juice, ketchup, and chile sauce.  It was pretty spicy and soooo delicious!

Our club was selling churros and strawberry shortcake.  There really weren't any other dessert booths, so we did a pretty brisk business.  They were really good as well.

Alicia got to work once my mom came by and took Reece home with her.  He was bored and intent on bothering his sister as much as he could.

He didn't leave, however, until AFTER he got a sno-cone.

We had a great day and were completely exhausted by the end of it.  Matter of fact, I left before all the clean-up was done as I was so tired I was starting to get sick to my stomach.  After all, I'd only had 5 hours of sleep the whole weekend!!

They call me Martha

My friends call me Martha.  It can be taken one of two ways, which are actually pretty similar.

First, Martha Stewart.  I think that is who they are really referring to when they say, "Wow, Martha!"

Second, Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary.  I kind of think of myself as this sort of Martha.  I mean, yeah, she was missing out on Jesus' stories, but she was cooking for him!  I mean, that is my love language, acts of service, and it was obviously hers, too.

Today I was Martha'd out.  I know, it isn't a word, but it's fact.  Not only did I clean the house and feed my kids, I also repaired a friend's jacket with the sewing machine, picked up some cool art supplies I can't wait to use, made banana bread, made cinnamon rolls, made my favorite go-to dinner, brown rice with tofu veggie stir fry, and cut Reece's hair!  Whew!

I wanted to paint the desk in Ali's room, but I spent far too much time taking apart my vacuum cleaner and putting it back together again only to find out that it didn't need a new belt, but rather, the motor was giving up the ghost.  My hall carpeting is now dirtier than it was before I started.  Oops.

Cool art supplies.  I am extra excited to try the blending pen on the colored pencils.  It could kick things up a whole new notch.  Yes, I was the dork taking pictures of pencils and pens in Michaels.

That fat pen on the left is what I'm so excited about.  And hey, I can always use ANOTHER kneaded rubber eraser.  Especially since the kids think they're really cool malleable toys.

Cinnamon rolls to die for.  Well, maybe not die, but I did get two marriage proposals because of them at the Relay for Life last year.  I'm taking them to the Relay again this year.  I'll let you know if anyone wants to marry me over their deliciousness.

Banana bread that I made because I feel guilty every time I throw away bananas and I had four that were screaming to be smashed to smithereens, thrown in a super hot box, and eaten up.

I didn't take a picture of the repair I did on my friend's jacket, because, really, it was only a 3 minute fix and I didn't actually CREATE anything.

Now, bed time, and then up early tomorrow to dye my hair so I won't look old next to my high school friends walking in the Relay and to make some blueberry cobbler.  My friends love me.

This is the most boring blog in the world

It's so boring, it should be called a blahhhhhg.  Really, though, I have next to nothing going on lately because I'm so unmotivated (read, lazy) this week.  I am not feeling 100 percent and am totally taking advantage of that fact. 

I really need to do some sewing.  I have some altering to do for a friend, a skirt to finish that I was designing, some pillows to design, and more changing pads to do.  Sigh.  I'm so lazy.

I'm so lazy; I can barely finish this post.

Mean Mom

Alicia wasn't feeling well last night when she went to bed.  I was sort of stressed by this as she has the state-mandated testing (don't get me started on that, being a homeschooler) this week and I did NOT want to deal with the hassle of having to reschedule it as she's already been placed into a special small testing group of 5 kids to accommodate her raging case of ADD, aka, stare-out-the-windows-and-at-the-lights-until-the-time-is-up disorder.

Plus, I wasn't sure I believed her.

This morning we headed off to school and barely made it in time, no thanks to the work truck that was 4 vehicles ahead of us.  My friend Roxanne was behind me the whole way and we were so glad we left early enough for our share of the leisurely drive in the country.

Ali stayed and did her testing while I snuck off to Beans Coffee Co. in the next town over, just over the bridge, a whole mile away.  I brought a book with me to stave off boredom, but my friend Susan happened to pop in and regaled me with tales of big business pharm and what they're doing to organic foods by genetically altering them and having their own "mafia" to enforce no seed hording by poor farmers.

We chatted a good long time and went back to campus and picked up our kids.  Ali was unusually quiet on the way home, but I figured she was just tired.  I fixed her lunch once we got here and she settled in.

Then she threw up.  Twice.

Dang it!!  She really WAS sick!!

She still has to go back for testing the next two days.  I hope she doesn't get any worse.

No time for this nonsense!

I am still sick, but I have no time for this nonsense!!  Sick or not, I have to get this house clean.  I can't stand looking at it any longer.

On the good side, I stopped by Goodwill yesterday on a whim and found some fabric that will be beautiful in Alicia's room for her desk curtains and covering the lamp.  If I have enough left over, I'll be able to make a pillow or two as well. 

I also found a pair of jeans for myself with the tags still on them.  Even better, they're  a size 8 and they fit!!  Woo hoo!!!

Under the Weather

I went to bed last night feeling a little under the weather. 

I woke up even more so.

The kicker is, it's beautiful outside!  Two weeks ago was perfect sick weather.  It was cold, gray, and rainy and one didn't want to go outside at all.  This week, well, the back porch shows 82 degrees right now.  That means it's gorgeous!

I've been taking the airborne and drinking lots of fluids.  Hopefully it won't get any worse than it already is.  It's a shame, too, because the house is really showing the effects of my being preoccupied with the painting last week and could definitely use a good cleaning.

Another lazy day

I seem to be having a few too many lazy days lately.  I shouldn't be, but I am.  My motivation seems to be stuck at zero.

This past week I was doing some redecorating in Alicia's room.  Anayla moved out a couple of weeks ago so I decided to make Ali's room all hers.  We sat down together and did some sketches and came up with a design we both agreed on.  After a rather expensive trip to the paint store (when did it get so expensive?), I started priming the walls.  They were previously a grassy green and a fairly bright blue.  It took me two days and over a gallon of primer, but I finally finished.  Next, was the painting.  Alicia chose a beautiful lilac color.  One gallon did the trick, and that included the ceiling.  By this point, I was really tired and my arms were killing me.  However, I had a goal in mind and I was determined to finish!

Friday morning, we started on the focal point of the room - a tree that rose up over the wall, extended its branches over 2 other walls, and up across half of the ceiling.  Alicia did the detail work on the trunk and I worked on the branches and leaves.  I let it dry and then moved the furniture back in.  The end result is beautiful and Alicia is very happy.  For the first time ever, she is really excited about having her room!  I feel badly that she has not had that experience so far, but my guilt is for another post.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of the finished room:

Changes Are Good!

I've been sticking with the tighter budget.  Good thing, because we are down to $1.40 in the checking account and pay day is tomorrow.  I am sticking so closely to the spend-less-money thing that I am baking my own bread, we are out of milk and peanut butter, and I bought printer ink with quarters.  I only bought the ink out of pure necessity.

The house has been staying cleaner, which is good because we've twice had surprise visits this week.  The only thing wrong was the dishes weren't done either time, but oh well.  I homeschool 2 kids and there are 5 of us here.  Dishes sometimes have to wait!

I've been very ambitious lately.  I am not sure why, but am going to go with it!  This week, I have baked bread on 2 different days, re-covered the lids of 2 storage ottomans (ottomen?), replaced the heating element in my dryer, and all of the other things that I usually do on a regular basis.  I think it's good; it keeps me out of trouble, right?

In my quest for saving money, I'm doing more and more cooking from scratch.  As a result, I'm looking for a bigger variety of recipes.  While I do this, I mention it, and friends ask me to post them.  I think I posted maybe 4 today?  I'm getting more and more requests!  I love it!  If I could, I'd make a living teaching people how to cook healthy, sew, draw, and do home repairs. 

Am I a modern-day Renaissance woman?  Perhaps...

Some changes in the household

This year, Mike and I are making some changes.  This is a joint effort, although we'll see just how well it works.

One of the changes that I am making myself is to keep the house cleaner.  I had to rearrange some things, but just moving my sewing table made a huge difference in the living room.  Now, to declutter some.

Another change that we are making is in our finances.  We are trying desperately to cut back on our expenses.  Today, the first payday of the year, I decided that I am going to pay cash for as much as possible instead of using our debit cards.  I also went to the "cheap" grocery store.  This is going to take some getting used to!

I'll have to keep up on this here to help me as an accountability tool.

Foggy mornings and lazy afternoons

Today is just one of those days, the type where I can't find my motivation anywhere.  I get things done, in spurts, but nothing like what I really want to get done.  I sit on the sofa or in a chair and think to myself, 'If I got up, I could bake something/sew something/draw something...' and yet I remain seated.

Part of this I blame on seasonal depression.  I have realized the last few years that I get some sort of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.  It hasn't been officially diagnosed - mostly because of the cost of going to the doctor, which would only make me more depressed - but I do recognize the symptoms.  This year I'm trying to get in more exercise and a better diet to help combat it, but there are still more days than not that I succumb to it and don't get much done.  It's like a feeling of melancholy slips over me and beckons me to sleep under its heavy blanket.

I'm determined not to take that nap today.

My kids aren't wanting to do their schoolwork today.  Part of me wants to let it go because I am obviously unmotivated myself, but the other part of me thinks I need to really "crack the whip" and get a fire lit under them.

Meanwhile, I'll continue reading a book on my Kindle PC program and listen to a music mix.

A Whole New Year

My back took awhile, but it finally got better, 2 weeks after I injured it.  Just in time for...

illness!

Reece woke up on a Monday morning, the first week of Christmas break, barking like a seal.  Of course, that can mean only one thing - croup.  He was wheezing and having difficulty breathing, so off to the emergency room we dashed, where he was treated with breathing treatments to open his airways.  With a prescription for an inhaler and some steroids, we were back on our way home.  He slowly got better over the week, just in time for...

more illness!

Alicia woke up with a sore throat one week after Reece first got sick.  All day long, she sneezed, coughed up gross phlegm, and her eyes watered non-stop.  I took her in to the doctor on Tuesday, where she was diagnosed with a sinus infection.  With a prescription for antibiotics, we were on our way back home.

Mike also got sick and Anayla had a sore throat.  Halfway through, I was convinced I was getting sick, but after sleeping most of Monday, I realized that I was merely exhausted from being up all night with Reece and getting only about 4 hours of sleep a night.

Of course, all of this illness meant sacrifices.  Reece and I didn't go to the Christmas celebration at my sister Karnette's house because I didn't want to risk getting her son Max sick.  I haven't been to church in two weeks.  I was housebound for two full weeks.

On Christmas Day, I got up early and made a turkey.  Mike had to work so he couldn't go to Karnette's, either.  As usual, one of his best friends, Jeff Comfort, came over for his Christmas visit.  Jeff's brother Jimmy also came over for awhile.  Despite Alicia and Anayla leaving for the family celebration and Mike leaving for work, it was still a lovely day.

Naturally, we opened all of our gifts in the morning.  The kids got what they wanted and Mike and I loved seeing the joy and surprise on their faces.

Let's catch up a bit, shall we?

Ali's birthday is, obviously, over.  Her friend Chloe got to go with us to the movies after all as the weather was far too bad for their planned trip to Idaho for Thanksgiving.  The day of Ali's birthday, November 24, the day before Thanksgiving, I picked up my nieces Lindsay and Lachelle from school and we headed back to Turlock.  We met Chloe, her mom Susan, and her brother Daniel at the movie theater and headed in to watch Tangled 3D.   What a cute movie!  The kids all loved it and we had a great time.

Chloe and Daniel were pretty worn out after that so they headed back to their home and the rest of us headed back to our home where Alicia opened her gifts and we had cake.  She requested I make her favorite, German's Chocolate Cake, which I did.

She got some cute gifts.

The next day was Thanksgiving.


Family came over for really good food, if I do say so myself.  Mike had to go to work, but the turkey was done before he left so he got to eat with us and enjoy the good company.  After we let dinner set for awhile, and Mike had left, the rest of us walked down to the school and played some Ultimate Frisbee. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't as fun as usual because Dan and Josh and Johnny didn't do the proper play of short passes down the field so that everyone can get a turn.  Oh, no.  They had to throw long passes and sprint down the field ahead of everyone else.  Kind of took all the joy out of the game.  That's okay.  At least we got some exercise!

The next week, I went to games night at the church.  I wasn't there for very long.  Why?  Because, I fell playing basketball and sprained my back, badly.  I am STILL in tons of pain and cannot live my life in a regular fashion.  I am hoping that tomorrow, a full two weeks since it happened, I can at least get back on the treadmill.

And that brings us up to speed on what has been happening.