Squash Fall Celebration Soup

Today I created an insanely delicious and super easy soup that you need in your kitchen this fall:

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

1 acorn squash

1 Tbs  oil

1 red bell pepper

2 poblano peppers

3 slices of bacon

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

stock of your choice

salt and pepper

Create:

Fire up your oven to 400F

Slice your squashes in half, scoop out the insides, and brush some oil (I used almond) on the insides and place them flesh side down on a baking sheet. Roast them for about 45 minutes.

Slice the peppers in half and seed them, and coat those with oil. Put them in a smaller oven safe pan and roast them about 15 minutes.

While your veg is roasting, take a dutch oven or large pot and start cooking your bacon. You're not going to want the bacon crispy but you want to get some oil from it. Throw your onions and garlic in and sauté them until the onions are translucent and the garlic smells good. Next, the peppers out of the oven and put them in the pot as well.

When your squash is done, peel it and put it in the pot, then add just enough stock to cover everything by half. Get everything simmery for 15 or so minutes and then blend everything either in a blender or with an immersion blender.

If I was going to do this again I would have added sage and chives but today it was one of those baby-screaming days so I straight up forgot. 

Let me know if you try this! It's delightful and you could so easily riff on it a million different ways. Also, this is something hat would be great for the whole family as a first course and to freeze for your baby food stash.

chicken salad one two punch

I just made a chicken salad that made the hubby say, "You've got to write this down. It's so good." 

Unfortunately for you, it's probably going to be the most obnoxious recipe ever in the history of recipes because I threw in a chard stem relish that had been sitting in our fridge for a couple months...but I think there are some adjustments to make that will make it doable. I hadn't made chicken salad in a good while so I kind of went nuts, trying to use up random little bits from our pantry that never get used.

So first, the relish. 

NO! First, a tasty little trick I learned at a farmer's market that involves getting a tiny ball jar, filling it with mustard seeds, drowning the seeds in white wine or plain vinegar, and letting it sit for a couple weeks until the mustard seeds get soft. I have quite the addiction to this and love putting it on just about everything. We always have a little jar or two of this stuff on hand, and find ourselves tossing it in whatever needs a little acidic zesty zing - salad dressings, chicken marinades, on crackers with goat cheese, in barbecue dippy, really anything you can think of, try it out. Okay so first, do that.

NOW, the relish. We were introduced to the concept of a cooked "pickle" condiment by The Lee Brothers' Pan-fried whiting with pickled peppers and onions (page 191) and by watching copious amounts of Chopped when we had cable.

Also frustrating? We don't really measure. Everything depends on how much chard you currently have at your disposal. For us in the fall/winter and spring, we grow absurd amounts of chard. According to Tamar Adler in An Everlasting Meal, the French do the opposite of Americans and eat their chard stems, giving the leaves to their chickens, because the colorful stems of the rainbow variety are more nutritionally packed than the leaves *

Inspired, we wanted to come up with creative ways to eat chard stems. Luckily, I'm not really a fan of celery, so we sub it like crazy in places that call for cooked celery.

Chard Stem Relish

Ingredients:

white wine vinegar (this is the base of the pickle)

one garlic clove, minced

mustard seed marinade

honey or agave 

celery seed 

red pepper flakes 

salt & pepper

chard stems, chopped
onion, chopped

Method:

1. Heat up the vinegar, mustard seed marinade, sweetener, celery seed, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper in a sauce pan on medium heat. You don't really want this stuff to boil, just be like a nice hot bath base.

2. Once the liquid is good and simmery, add the chard stems, onion, and garlic and let it simmer long enough to get the raw crunch out of the stems and onion, but you still want a little bit of crunch. Pack it up in a Ball jar and let it sit in your fridge for a couple weeks.

Pro tip: The Mister would like to add that this stuff is heavenly on bratwurst.

Um, you're going to hate me. We also roasted a chicken (recipe also from the above mentioned Lee Brother's book) the day before making this. So...besides the mustard seed and the chard pickle, roast you a chicken. Or buy a chicken already roasted, or roast some chicken parts.

NOW without further ado:

Christina's Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 whole roasted chicken or the equivalent, chopped **

Mr. Stock's chard pickle ***
A couple spoonsful of nutritional yeast
Sesame seeds

Sunflower seeds

Greek yogurt ****

Mayonnaise (don't worry - I didn't make this myself...this time...)

Sweet pickle relish

Black pepper

Method: 

1. Chop chicken, put it in a big bowl

2. Dump everything else on top of the chicken, mix.
3. Garnish with butter lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, and grapes. 

4. Die of happiness

* hopefully you don't toss your chard leaves - that stuff is so versatile...put it in your pot of beans, sauté it with olive oil and vinegar, make it up into a pot of greens like you would with collards, eat it raw in a salad...oh and okay the gnarly leaves that we grow that are eaten by bugs or just weather worn we toss to our chickens.

**If you're using a whole chicken, be sure and save the bones and make your own chicken stock in a crock pot. Easy peasy and saves you money. 

*** Substitute chopped celery, a dash of mustard, and some white wine vinegar

**** I did about half Greek yogurt and half mayo

This recipe is killer on so many levels. I'm in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy and need to pack in as much nutrition as I can into several tiny meals throughout the day because room in my stomach is just getting scarce. I have found that when I don't eat nutritionally dense foods, I'm just starving all day, and between that and having to drink lots of water so I don't get headaches or go crazy...it makes for a maddening daily existence. So, this recipe is extra jammy packed with protein, plus random goodness that is good for my body and baby.

in like a lion

It's APRIL! I haven't been holding true to pretty much ANY of my resolutions, including #1, posting once a week on either of my blogs. I wasn't feeling super creative or inspired, but finally posted over there, and it gave me a really good jumping off point for future posts. 

1. Post once a week on my music therapy blog and on this blog

I guess I am overwhelmed with all the sharing that is done via Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and on and on and on. I like taking pictures with my phone, which makes it easy to update FB, but honestly at the end of the day I'm flipping exhausted and remembering to post on here is the last thing on my mind. Maybe I need to just focus on a couple things that I want to talk about on here - I think I've talked about this before. I love my friend's running blog because it is oh so very inspiring, it gives her a place to reach out to other frunners, and her blog is a reflection of the awesome journey she has been on from a non-Runner to a marathoner. 

As I'm typing this I see my Clematis is blooming, and my jasmine, and my garden is going nuts. I think getting that to-do list up and printed has helped me organize my brain a little better, which should lead to more posts on here. Bear with me.
 

2. Sew through the One Yard Wonders book I just got for Christmas

Haven't even done one of these. Eeks.
 

3. Run a successful (read: profitable) Etsy shop

I SOLD SOMETHING! So it was kinda profitable. Now I need to make more stuff. My creativity has been suffering as of late. I realized that all I have been doing is giving and giving and giving of myself and not really taking in anything. Even the books I read - most of them are self-help books, which just gives me another project. This has meant I've had to do some editing of the media I consume. Chaos and violence is out (thank goodness Walking Dead is on hiatus) and I've been trying to spend more time just cultivating peace and beauty through poetry, music, and enjoying my garden. I've committed myself to creativity-ifying my craft room, which has just recently gotten a couple coats of purple paint and will be getting some hardware upgrade thanks to IKEA.

Hopefully making my space more creative and organized will help me actually be in the mood to create.

4. Cook my way through the Lee Brother's Simple Fresh Southern

Now that it's Spring, I have a good excuse to do this. So many of their recipes are seasonal to warmer months.  I have been in a food rut as of late so I need to pull this book out and get to work.

5. Use raw veganism to get myself to my goal weight

Phew. Okay. I've been using raw vegan PRINCIPLES to get me to my goal weight. I started at 172 and am now down to 167. I have only health snack choices in my house, and am making daily use out of my Magic Bullet to concoct awesome smoothies. A few friends of mine are trying out Shakeology, which looks really interesting. I don't know if I'll ever do it in the future, because I know what to put in my smoothies and so far it looks pretty much exactly like what they do, except I have the time and the resources to get the fresh stuff. So I'll stick with what works for me right now. My current obsession is my after workout snack of a piece of toast, almond butter, banana, honey, and chia seeds. HEAVEN!

6. Run a half-marathon

I chose a half-marathon - it's going to be in September here in the Dallas area! To get me there, I've been using the Hal Higdon training method - I have so long between now and when I would need to start training for the half that I am currently running the Novice 5K schedule. This is my fifth week of running consistently and happily, and I'm so excited that I've stuck with it. 

I am also biking a lot - a friend sold me her bike trainer so I can bike in my living room while the nugget sleeps. I am riding in the Bike MS in a couple weeks and I'm kinda nervous about it. I've never ridden in such a big ride before. I also put together a team for Livestrong Foundation's Ride for the Roses in October, and have committed to biking 85-100 miles. We'll see if that happens.

7. Publish my thesis in a music therapy journal

8. Beef up my thesis and publish it as a book

blargh. It's hard to be in the music therapy world and connected when 99% of my day is my child. Every day is a struggle to have that balance. I adore the field and know that it's what I am meant to do, so it is important to me to stay connected somehow. I just need to DO IT.

9. Go to yoga at least once a week

HA! neither this nor the yoga DVDs have been touched in MONTHS. Did I mention I'm already working out 6 days a week?

10. Only watch 1 hour of television a day. Weekends included.

This one comes and goes. We're talking about getting rid of cable and I honestly couldn't be more excited about it!

11. Find a church and attend regularly

! We found a church. Or rather the church found us. I don't mean the building stalked us and hunted us down but as it turns out lots of people in our community go to this church because it's walking distance from our house. So, it makes sense that if we already know people and their kids and are already doing community together, that we should join this church. Plus, their baptism services are really beautiful, and the inside of the church kinda looks like Hogwarts.

12. Buy no clothes new for myself or my family (notice that I didn't say "no new clothes.")

I've blown this one for baby girl because right when the weather got awesome and warm I realized she had no shorts or short sleeved shirts, so I had to go shopping quick and didn't have time to dig through a consignment shop. Although, I love doing it - it's kinda tough with a toddler. And by that I mean impossible. 

Okay so, that's where I am right now. I said that I hadn't been holding true to any of my resolutions but it turns out I kinda have been on some. If I promise to post I won't do it so I'll just say see ya for now :)

haphazard gardening goodness

Winter has been driving me crazy, y'all. It's been cold, my family has been sick, and I've had to resort to throwing open the windows to get fresh air and clear out the funk in my house. To make matters worse, I would pass by my bleak, untended garden and sigh half-heartedly, trying to decide if and when I wanted to plant anything until Springtime. You see, North Texas has had a horribly mild winter, and I keep thinking it's going to freeze. This time last year, it snowed for a week. With every high-of-mid-50s-low-60s days that pass, my doubt grows.

So finally, in a fit of impatience and impulse, I raided my favorite gardening store for cures for the common pre-Springtime blahs. One corner of my garden is rocking the tender greens, herbs, and chard that I planted in the fall, so of course that section is looking super sexy. 

Sadly, the other 3/4 of the garden was horrid. Dusty brown old mulch, dead plants, YUCK. Enter: gardening madness:

Here's what I planted: 

Edibles

Bok Choy (purple)

Chamomile

Chard (bright lights)
Collard Greens

Dill (sacrificial)

Dinosaur Kale *

Lavender

Radicchio

Spinach

Thyme

Violas

Purely Aesthetic

Pansies

Ranunculus

Some cute little white flower that I couldn't find the tag for

PHEW! I am finally standing by "love the garden you've got." I will no longer lament the lack of sun needed to grow gorgeous tomatoes and peppers in the hot summer sun. Instead I will eat my fill of collard greens, kale, and herbs.

* The dinosaur kale was my super epic find, and I think I planted either 3 or 4 - I juice a few leaves of this plant every morning with an apple and an orange, as it's supposed to help with thyroid imbalance. Now instead of buying it I can go out and pick me some to juice! If you know anything about me you know how happy this makes me.

I have heard that mothering and gardening are two difficult things to have coexist...especially when your child is recovering from a cough and it's cold outside and the days are still short and your hubby gets home after it gets dark sometimes. Today I discovered the magical antidote for that: NAPTIME.

Speaking of naptime, I've got miles to go before she wakes up. Anyone out there have plans for your Spring garden?

End of October Garden Update

Here's an update on my awesome garden - seriously, I can't believe how everything's sprouting!

 I didn't take a picture of this whole plant but it is HUGE. I think it's small pickling cucumbers - can't wait to get these things all canned up and delicious :)

We are rolling in bell peppers - ever since the weather changed the peppers have been going absolutely nuts.

This is the crazy mix of greens I threw down in the garden, which sprouted like three days later. I have no idea what they're going to turn into but it's kinda awesome that way!

Winter Wonderland

I spent a good 4-5 hours in the yard yesterday. K was working on work stuff, so I...

planted and mooned over my new passiflora...

Seriously y'all - I am SUPER EXCITED about this thing. I've been looking for several years now and hope I planted it in the right spot. Check out the flowers! They look like space aliens! If I were a flower, I would totally be this one.

planted a tree (crepe myrtle)...

I went to the Garden Coach at North Haven Gardens and she was absolutely incredible. I highly recommend her. She looked at our yard and suggested things we had never even thought about, including planting trees along the back fence to obscure the view of our back neighbors (that's their kitchen window looking over our back yard). The way yard work at our house usually goes is I get the creative inspiration and Kyle does the heavy lifting. Not this time - I went to Home Depot, bought the trees, rented a truck to bring them home, dug the hole, and planted that sucker. SO SATISFYING.

and yes, my back muscles are insanely tight today.

worked in the shade bed...

Despite the most hellacious summer on record and some of our shade plants getting scorched by JUST THE AIR TEMPERATURE, we're no longer calling this our plant cemetery.

and planted my winter garden...

Which means that I've got a bunch of Bright Lights chard, parsley, cilantro seeds, some Rober's Rose Lemon gardenia to ward off the pests, chamomile, thyme, and a crazy mess of seeds that I tossed down (in the middle, above "wonder" in the above photo) including spinach, kale, and lettuces. 

In front yard news, guess who's got four green thumbs and Yard of the Month? :)

now it's time to get back

Just a quick update as my sunshine is napping for more than 20 minutes for the first. time. today.

1) I joined Stroller Strides! thinking "hey this will be a nice little workout and I can meet moms." I get my ass kicked 3 times a week and it is AWESOME. and painful. in a good way.

2) I met and hung out with a raw foods coach and am going to go "high raw vegetarian" starting tomorrow. Kind of excited about it. 

3) I had a moment last week after Stroller Strides when after class a herd of ducks came up to us so I took A out of her stroller and stood her up on the sidewalk. She smiled SO BIG and started sort of QUACK-ing at them! In that moment I thought to myself, "yeah, I wouldn't be anywhere else."

4) KINGS OF LEON with BAND OF HORSES on FRIDAY!

5) My garden is absolutely amazing. Pics soon!

:(

My garden has been freezer burned by Old Man Winter. It is a sad, sad day.

Winter Garden

My Bright Lights Chard (that's the leafy stuff with the orange, yellow, and magenta stems) is easily the best gardening investment I have ever made. I planted the stuff last February and it has weathered all the crazy Texas weather and is still going strong. In fact, I used a bunch of it today in a batch of spaghetti sauce :) I think the key to its survival has been the position in the garden. It's close to the house so it gets good shade/cool in the summer, and then in the winter it's in prime sunshine position.

I love love LOVE brussels sprouts (the top and bottom leafy things) and Kyle loves cabbage (the middle leafy things), so I thought I'd give them a shot in the garden.

baby garlics! These were the easiest things to plant - just shove a clove in the ground and after a couple weeks: 

My lavender is doing really well, and I've planted a whole bunch of spinach, sorrel, and parsley. I moved a big hunk of germander to another section of the garden, and I'm considering either planting or moving my now-insanely-huge oregano and thyme to our sad little excuse for a shade garden.

I am looking forward to the weather warming up so I can take sweet A outside to play in the dirt :)

chiropractic fun

Today I went and got adjusted by my chiropractor/doula and she shut down my right hip and opened up my left, then did some shifting and encouraging of the baby to scoot over to the left side, and suggested I go home and lay on my left side (= NAP!) so hopefully that'll get things all in the right spot. She also said that she recently adjusted a baby who was due at 43 weeks. So you know, no big deal.

I have to admit that Thanksgiving has totally snuck up on me. I was so focused on the baby showing up that I didn't think to plan for what would happen if it didn't. So today, I ripped up my tomato and basil plants and basically went grocery shopping at the plant store. Of course now I have to get all of it (lemon thyme, collard greens, cabbage, parsley, cilantro, etc.) in the ground and mulched and watered before the first big freeze. You know, tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some pics up soon.

et voila

I am honestly dumbfounded by how little money, time, and brain power to make my very own "Hooter Hider." Thanks again to CityCraft for the fabulous *BOLD! BEAUTIFUL! GENDER NEUTRAL!*  fabric (ONLY A YARD PEOPLE) and the Mama Monster, where I got the pattern.

also made this week: an oilcloth bag. I took a class over at CityCraft and learned soooo much (including that i need to get my machine serviced...oops) and had a wonderful time with a cozy gathering of women. I had never taken a sewing class before and was really nervous but had a blast and will definitely be going back.

Guess what everyone's getting for Christmas!

In other kinds of crafting news, my herb garden is basically just tending to itself...I've got loads of Basil, thyme, oregano, chamomile, and my bright lights chard just keeps on giving! It's really amazing. I wanted a wild herb garden, and that is certainly what I'm getting. I don't even stress about the caterpillars that have moved in on my parsley remnants.

The thing that has made me smile the most this summer is that an heirloom tomato from last year has decided to plant it's pretty self in the not-so-sunniest spot in the garden. AND THEN decided that op, nope, about a foot away would be MUCH better thank you, and...well, we've got 3 baby tomatoes going and are just going to see what happens:

I am amazed at nature.

ahh...Springtime...

The allergens are in full swing, the birds are chirping, the blackberries are blooming...

and, the caterpillars have returned:

these little bugaroos are seriously the bane of my existence. Those guys, "skeeter eaters," and people who smack their lips while eating. And people who hoark loogies. Ugh. Skin crawling.

Anyway, I cannot count how many times I have left my garden in the morning all nice and leafy and come home to this horrendous carnage:

I really don't understand why they don't like the stalks. It's seriously beyond me, as well as is the incredible amount of damage these little (when I say little I mean BIG HONKING ALICE IN WONDER LAND CATERPILLARS) creatures are capable of.  Also beyond me: why the above picture makes me think of fashion magazines.

Anyhoo, what to do, what to do. 

In the case of slugs, setting out a pie pan of cheapster beer that's deep enough for a slug to drown in will do the nasty little trick. I once drowned 40 slugs in the span of a couple hours. It was foul.

In the case of caterpillars, I've done a couple things successfully. I've used thuricide which is an organic pesticide which is a bacterial agent that kills things like caterpillars in the larvae stage only. There's all kinds of warnings on it against humans ingesting the stuff in concentrated quantities, which is enough to make me leery of putting it on stuff that I'm going to eat. But that's just the paranoia talking.

You could also try zipping some of the following in your favorite food processor: garlic, water, onion, cayenne pepper, and 1 Tbs dish soap. Put it all in a spray bottle and go to town. I can't think of anything that wouldn't be repelled by that.

For other pests, one could also try ladybugs, but I can't speak to their awesomeness because I haven't yet tried them. It's all drowning slugs and spicy soapy spray for now.

Happy April!

I know the whistling puppy is not going to make up for a severe lack of posts, so this is my attempt at a catch up. I went to the annual conference of the Southwestern Region of the American Music Therapy Association in glorious Amarillo (Spamarillo....Glamarillo...what have you) over the weekend. Actually, it being in Amarillo was kind of nice because I have family-in-law there and it was fantastic to see everyone. Unfortunately I got a WICKED stomach bug over the weekend (I blame the slightly stinky hotel and their less than awesome eggs) which made me only go to a couple sessions.

This week has me completely off my game as a result...I'm still recovering from being out from Wednesday to Sunday of last week. In fact, I WAS going to go to Austin this weekend to do a 5k, but am really more than looking forward to a weekend at home. Maybe do some Deep Ellum Arts Festival and some catch up work around the house.

In other news, my garden has COMPLETELY exploded.

It's amazing what happens when you plant things in season...

best. dinner. ever.

Overheard this evening:

Hey what do you want for dinner?

How about veggies and a salad?

Sweet. Go get some chard and some lettuce greens from the garden?

Perfect.

In other news, smoked paprika is probably the best thing that has ever been invented! If you've never tried it, go to the supermarket and stick your nose in some. It will change your life.

This past weekend was so fun - lots of running (a 5k Saturday and a 10k on Sunday) and friends and fun! What's awesome is that Spring has SPRUNG here - it's absolutely thrilling to be out in the sunshine, have longer days, enjoy the flowers exploding from their winter slumbers. It's downright intoxicating.

Herb Garden 2K10

I've said before that I'm probably the world's most impatient gardener. It snowed here last week, and this is what my garden looked like:

The Weather Channel says it might even snow this week. But you know what I did yesterday?

I tricked out my herb garden.

my best friend Haley gave these cute herb signs to Kyle for Christmas, but I'm fairly certain they're actually for me.

I decided to try my hand at pansies this year (these look beat up because my dog likes to shortcut through them) and have been way delighted. They're great in the cold and are a refreshing splash of color in the winter months.

The salad aisle including bright lights swiss chard and some lettuce.

I planted three kinds of sage, two kinds of parsley, and three cilantro plants.

All together now! In the bottom left corner of the picture you can see my cilantro plants, plus the purple sage. Other things I'm growing include thyme, dill, and chamomile.

The fact of the matter is that every year I try to grow tomatoes and peppers in this space and EVERY YEAR I get my heart broken because it just doesn't get enough sunlight. I decided that instead of disappointing myself yet again, I would have the most badass herb garden around. The pansies (righth hand side of the last photo) are where several different kinds of basil are going to go because right there gets the most sunlight. I'm hoping to get at least 5 basil plants going.

I also should note that before any of this stuff got put in the ground, I turned my compost pile and filtered out some delicious food for my plantlets into two big plastic bins, then carried the bins over to my garden. I added worm castings and North Haven Gardens's Veggie Food to the mix and then one bag of topsoil each to each bin. I mixed it all up then mixed it into my old bed. When planting, I sprayed the roots of each transplant with Garrett's Juice and once everything was in gave everything a hearty foliar drench. I also sprinkled a little more Veggie Food on everything and then gave everything a good watering. Today it rained a little bit and then dried up, so I mulched. 

They say it takes several years to have gardens going really good. This is my little garden's 3rd year! Let's hope for the best  :)

there's no need to complicate

Hey I'm back! That month off was a much needed vacay to recharge the creative juices. I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted my blog to be about and it came down to really three big things for me: gardening, cooking, and the work I do. The smaller bits of life including travel, working out, general style and artsy things are also going to be in there but keeping a main focus will help organize my thoughts and intentions.

gardening

Well, it's Winter, and everything is dead. I have decided that growing tomatoes and peppers in the back yard just isn't doing it for me - there is just not enough sunlight back there to get a good crop of anything that requires that much sunlight. Therefore, this year I'm going to focus on creating a really spectacular herb and flower garden in the back, get the shade garden going really well, and work on my little therapy nook. I am going to also work on really educating myself about where I live, the plants that thrive here, and the soil. Thankfully there's a really amazing garden center here that has all kinds of fabulous classes. For example, this Thursday I'm going to learn about the ins and outs of Spring vegetable gardening, and keep working on the hubs as to the overabundance of sunshine in our front yard and how we can maximize that in the form of fabulous vegetables.

cooking

I know, I know - everyone's got a blog and everyone posts their recipes. Well, whether you believe in making resolutions at the New Year or not (I happen to be a huge fan) I decided that this year, January 1st would be the kickoff to a Vegan 2010 initiative. As it turns out, I also got a really horrible stomach virus at about 11pm December 31st which led to me tossing my cookies over and over and over to ring in the New Year, which, if you know me was devastating because I LOVE New Year's. Love it. I was so bummed out.

On the bright side though, there's nothing like a massive purge to get one thinking about exactly what goes into one's body. Being sick made it ridiculously easy to jump on into veganism, mostly because I was eating nothing but vegetable broth for 3 days straight. I say "easy to jump" when it's not like I've spent the better part of about 6 years playing with the idea and the practice of vegetarianism. So you know, everyone goes at their own pace. If you're interested in why I think I'll be eating mostly vegetables for awhile, check out Fast Food Nation, Skinny Bitch, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Jungle, and The China Study. Then watch Supersize Me and Food, Inc. If the information in those books and films doesn't scare you running into a local farmer's patch of brussel sprouts, I don't know what will. I'm not a militant animal rights activist by any means, but if you see what those animals are put through and the diseases they carry before they get chopped up and shipped to the grocery store...it's not a system that I am willing to be on the receiving end of.

I am currently reading and following Natalia Rose's Raw Food Detox Diet. It's got lots of interesting information regarding food combining and takes a running start at veganism instead of doing the all-or-nothing approach. I borrowed a juicer from a friend this week and have been drinking green lemonade every morning and LOVE how my body feels. I'm not a person who will keep doing something if it doesn't feel good, and I definitely feel super clean on the inside.

Also in the way of cooking vegan, I have been disappointed with many vegan cookbooks and the requirement to buy and cook with all kinds of strange things. I mean, I'm up for checking out quinoa and seitan (um, why do I want to eat straight up gluten if so many people in the country are gluten intolerant and have no idea?) and all that but I'm also terrifically lazy and want to eat stuff that I know is going to taste great. To that end, I've started digging around in the 50 million cookbooks we already have to find good vegetarian/vegan recipes. Last week I made some incredible vegan southern food including a pilaf with mushrooms, okra and tomatoes, and braised carrots with terragon. When I get back from Hawaii I'm going to post the recipes and pictures.

travel

Yep, we're going to Hawaii! Our dear friends Leslie and John are getting married and we get to leave on my birthday (this Friday)! There are worse ways to spend a birthday than on a flight to paradise.

work
The biggest thing that's happened lately regarding the big three is that I have a new job! It's a long story, but I can definitely see God's hands all over this thing regarding how it all came about. 

So yeah - woohoo new year and new focus!

charmed by chard

I don't know why I was so astounded when I peeked out at my little seeds three days after I planted them to see that the stem of the rhubarb chard I planted was RED! but...oh wait. No, I know why I was astounded - first off because the freaking things sprouted THREE DAYS after I planted them (so I gave them a WAHOO! and a fist pump, and then a shot of Garrett's Juice) and...well...maybe I'm dumb but I just didn't expect to see RED! on my little plantlets. But it sure did charm the heck out of me.

The other semi-exciting thing is that my pepper plants have turned into complete monsters:

This is what Candace and I refer to as "slutty jalepenos" Seriously - TONS of peppers. And I didn't even know which plants were which, just that some were jalepenos and some were poblanos, until I saw this little wonder:

...and started dreaming up all kinds of stuffed peppers stuffings and sweet-pickled jalepeno recipes. It's amazing what DAYS ON END OF NEVERENDING RAIN will do to food crops. I mean really. Yowza.

The Cooler Side of Texas

Seriously y'all - I can almost hear my tomatoes shouting HALLELUJAH! Because we're having a cold snap here in North Texas! It hasn't gotten over 100 degrees in about a week and the mornings have been in the 60s.

gardening in the shade

we've been amending soil and have now picked out plants - some of which we know where we want them. Others, not so much.  Here's some pics:

from left to right we've got cast iron plants, crimson azalea, another kind of azalea, two acubas, a hosta (R front) and gardenia

 

Here's cast iron again, then oxalis, and coleus all mixed up.

and because I love Martha, one little hydrangea and some sweet potato vines

and then in these last two you can see a baby elephant ear, mahonia, and callas.

any thoughts out there regarding garden design?

Sweaty & Dirty in the Garden

I know, I know, it was 100+F this past weekend. However, the hubs had plans other than sitting around eating ice cream in the air conditioning. We quite literally worked outside all day, both days. Since resolving to get chickens, we've started a list of things we need to do, including getting a coop built, but also remedying the issue of the shady part of the garden where nothing ever grows. Here's what we did, in pictures: 

K is far more of a morning person than I am and when I woke up on Saturday morning, he'd gotten most of the trench for the brick wall dug out. I'm glad in our relationship we've got a good balance of detail oriented and, um, the complete opposite, especially during this project. I learned a lot about building garden walls, including the importance of paver base, and how incomplete our lives were without an 8x8 tamper. No end of jokes there, my favorite being Kyle's while resuming work: "You ready to get your tamp - on?"

We've got the brick part done (I'll take some more pictures tomorrow), and I've bought a tiller to break up the beautiful, sticky clay that plagues Richardson.

Next step: Soil amending!