My Little Mexican

Some Chihuahuas make great US Citizens. Mine does not. He understands Spanish and has a serious craving for Mexican food. When we have tacos he goes crazy as soon as he smells beans! He loves to eat leftover tortillas and beans. He can grab a tortilla, inhale it at the speed of light, and beg for another before you can say "Cinco de Mayo!" 

Step 1: "Snatch tortilla and take it to my bed!"

Step 2: "Rip up tortilla into bite sized pieces."

Step 3: "Demolish tortilla at a speed faster than the camera." 

Step 4: "Stuff my little Mexican chipmunk cheeks full of tortilla..."

Grandma is Here!

I always love having my grandma come to visit me. We always have so much fun together and add to that she and I are kindred spirits in many ways! As I've been eating vegan food she is an ally :) She has never been one to eat much meat and she loves her veggies so she has been thriving on vegan cuisine :) Tonight for dinner I made us spicy black bean burgers, roasted spiced sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, and salad. Yum-O.

 Toss romaine with sun dried tomatoes (the kind in olive oil) and pepperoncinis) add your favorite herbs, salt & pepper and the oil & vinegar from the peppers and tomatoes makes a tasty dressing.

On this burger, bottom to top: fresh yellow onion, hot house tomato, black bean patty, and avocado slices. With the remaining "unsliceable" pieces of the avocado, I mashed it and added a tbsp of salsa for a southwest spread.

Tomorrow I think we'll spend the day relaxing! I need to work on my tan :) We'll have to take a picture together tomorrow....but today I look pretty crazy!

A Favorite Song

When I'm cleaning the house, I really enjoy playing worship music and having a sweet time talking to my Father. Besides the shower, it's really the only time I sing very loud, or let myself cry. :) Lol! Today I was playing my favorite mix on my ipod while I was cleaning the house. I am not really very awake in the morning so I usually read my Bible at night. But music in the morning, now that I can do! This is the words to one of my favorites--a sweet reminder that our God is everything that we need!

1. God My God, I cry out
Your beloved needs You now
God be near, calm my fear
And take my doubt
Your kindness is what pulls me up,
Your love is all that draws me in

C. I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can't climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

2. God my God let mercy sing
A melody over me
God right here all I bring is all of me
Your kindness is what pulls me up,
Your love is all that draws me in

Yams!

I have really enjoyed the variety of fruits and veggies that I've been eating lately. I have been trying lots of new things. Today I decided to bake a yam for lunch. When you're eating vegan, your protein comes from nuts, beans, soy products, etc. So I wanted to add some protein and some fruit to my meal. I decided to give the recipe for this impromptu delicious potato in pictures. :)

One ripe, seedless tangerine. Halved & sectioned (like you would do to a grapefruit.)

One ripe pineapple, quartered. 

 Save 3 quarters for something else.

Slice into chunks

Put the tangerine juice & pineapple chunks into a small pot. Squeeze the pineapple juice from the skin into the pot. Add 1/2 tbsp soy butter.

 While the pineapple heats through, open the baked yam and add 2 tsp soy butter.

 Toss a handful of cashews into the pot about 3 minutes into cook time (I had it on medium heat). I use raw, unsalted cashews from Whole Foods.

 Add the tangerine sections.

 Cook JUST until heated through. It took about 5 minutes total.

 After pouring some of the fruit juices onto my yam, I wanted it a little sweeter so I added 1/2 packet of truvia.

Top the yam with yumminess and eat it.

This was really good, but next time I will cut up the yam & fruits, add the nuts & soy butter, and bake it all together. I think it would be really good baked. :) Happy Monday!!

My Silly Furbabies

I love my furkids, which is obvious to anyone who knows me. Here, some shots from the last few days.

Naptime. This lasts only about 30 seconds once they realize we have seen them. 

Innocent little faces. :)

The cat does not like to be seen being nice to the dog. But the next occurrence cracked me up.....

The dog needed a bath...so the cat decided to hold him down and wash him. 

"Man, you are just STINKY!! Let me give you a tuna breath bath!"

I gave the little munchkin a bath...he hates being cold. 

Giving me stinker face...

Mission Impossible: Cluttered Kitchen

Today as I was drinking my morning tea I got overwhelmed with a sense of clutter in the kitchen. Every surface had something on it (including the top of the refrigerator which drives me CRAZY) and every cabinet I opened seemed to be a jumble of junk. I lost some storage space when we moved but that is NO EXCUSE for clutter!! I pulled back my hair and got to work! I spent 2 hours re-organazing and condensing. Finally all of the cabinets are in order. I feel sane again. One of my challenges when I organize is finding space for Rich's list of "required snackage" that must take up all the cupboards. Our house must always be stocked with popcorn, fruit snacks, chips, cracker packs (those little sandwich crackers), etc. But finally today I found a place for everything. We will see how long it lasts. I should have taken before & afters but I didn't think about it!!

My bottom cabinet on the left of the oven

The cabinet above the stove. Notice the repurposed goldfish box in the left corner, which now holds 6 different kinds of popcorn. That's minus 6 boxes :)

Some of the stuff I had to find space for in the next cabinet picture

If you notice, on the bottom right I put the bread--no more bread on top of the fridge! yay!

The ultra clean EMPTY shiny top of the fridge

The cabinet over the fridge. I like having my Dutch oven on the stove cause I think it's pretty but lately it just feels cluttery!!

The top of the microwave--the large container won't stay, it has muffins that I made yesterday. Vegan chocolate ones :)

Another cabinet--my rice cooker, recipe box, measuring cups, and some "snackage," among other things

Under the kitchen sink--before

Under the kitchen sink--after!

Mixing bowls, tupperware, pots & pans, and cutting boards. Another bottom cabinet.

There's nothing better than a glass pedestal bowl to hold snackage

All the empty boxes from the things I "condensed" and random junk that shall no more live in my house.

Tra la la a superclean-neat-organized-awesome-nirvana space. :)

"Burgers" & "Chick'n"

I've made more yummy vegan meals, so far nothing I won't make again! Yesterday I had a veggie burger on a whole-wheat organic vegan bun, steamed green beans and a crunchy dill pickle from a local farm. Yum! Today for lunch I was CRAVING Chinese food so I used Gardein's Mandarin Orange"Chick'n" to make a tasty stir fry. I used a bag of frozen stir fry veggies, some steamed brown rice, and the Gardein Chick'n. After it was stir fried it had a really crispy texture not too far off from take-out Chinese! I'm not in love with brown rice yet and the stir-fry veggies lacked flavor for me, so I added some Thai peanut satay sauce that I had in the fridge, that happens to be vegan! It was delish! The best part is I have leftovers since most things are for at least 2 people and Rich probably won't be touching brown rice, asian veggies or fake Chick'n anytime soon!!

My veggie burger meal

The "Chinese Chick'n" (It actually tasted more Thai once I added the peanut sauce!! Sooo good!)

"Chick'n" means...NOT REAL!!! But it was very good!