Obtaining Mercy

The Best Vegetarian Chili Ever

  

 

The Best Vegetarian Chili Ever

• 1 T Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 2 bay leaves (be sure to remove these when dish is finished cooking)
• 1 T salt
• 2 stalks celery (chopped)
• 2 red bell peppers (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 t cumin
• 2 t oregano
• 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 T chili powder
• 1/8 t cayene pepper
• 3 28 oz cans tomatoes (I use whatever combination of tomatoe sauce, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes that I have available)
• 2 15 oz kidney beans
• 2 15 oz black beans
• 1 15 oz whole kernel corn

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat.  Stir in onions, bay leaves and salt.  Saute until onion is translucent.  Stir in celery, bell peppers, and garlic.  Cover, reduce to low and simmer for five (5) minutes.  Add all spices.  Add tomatoes.  Add beans.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.  Stir in corn and simmer until corn is heated through.

We serve this over jasmine rice.

(Doug made a huge pot of this over the weekend and we are still enjoying it today.  It is so full of yummy veggies and beans that I promise - you won't even miss the meat!!!)

Enjoy!

Alesha

 

 

 

The "Good for What Ails You" Smoothie

 

I am feeling pretty yuck today.  I'm home alone, and nothing in the kitchen looks or smells appealing.  So when all else fails, go for fruit.

 

 

"Good for What Ails You" Smoothie

• 1/2 honeydew melon, seeded and peeled
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 to 1 cup frozen strawberries

Place all ingredient in blender and pulse until smooth.

 

 

It's guaranteed to make you feel all better!!!

:)

One...two...three...four...

...counting my many blessing today.  I thought I'd share my day with you.  I think you will see why I am feeling so blessed today.  Ready, set, here we go!

• Got up at 6:45 to change Isaac.  Repositioned him in the bed.
• Drank barley.
• Read Bible, the book of Exodus, the story of the Red Sea crossing.  Remembered I had an unread email about the subject, and watched the powerpoint presentation which was very interesting.
• Checked all email accounts, checked Etsy orders, read blog comments, checked Google Analytics and StatCounter for web sites, and check in to Xanga blogs that I follow.
• Prepared Isaac's feed, juice and meds.  Fed him very quietly because he had fallen asleep (had been up since 4:30 a.m.  I did not get up with him - Doug did!)  Washed up all syringes, tubes and jars.
• Let Newton out to go potty.

 (Newton catchin' some Florida rays)

• Drank first glass of veggie juice.
• Rinsed black eyed peas, and put in Crockpot with onion, shallot, salt and Better Than Bouillon.
• Rinsed chick peas and put in to cook on stove.
• Checked Facebook, accepted gifts and played games.
• Rinsed chickpeas, put in fresh water, put back on to finish cooking.
• Made my way through most of the blogs that I follow - everybody seems to have a lot to say this week. :)
• Made hummus for lunch -  our favorite recipe!
• Stirred the black eyes peas.
• Changed Ike who decided to wake up, put in a video, then spent some time talking with my boy whose eyes seem clearer today than they have in some time.
• Talked to Mama on the phone.  She is feeling better today.  We are still waiting on the results of one more test.  Found out my aunt (my mom's sister) was taken to the hospital on Sunday morning, and tests showed she was having multiple mini strokes.  She is still in the hospital and will probably be released to a nursing home/rehab facility to learn to walk with a walker before she goes back home with my uncle.
• Took all my vitamins.
• Chopped up veggies to eat with our hummus.
• Answered the front door to receive some of Ike's medical supplies.
• Drank second glass of juice for the day.
• Prepared Ike's meds, juice and feed.  Fed Isaac.  Changed him, put in a new video.  Washed up.
• Had lunch with Doug.  Sent veggies and juice with him for an afternoon snack.
• Gathered veggies and fruit for juicing:  kale, carrots, celery and apples.  Everything was already prepared in baggies, except for the apples.
• Spent about 30 minutes juicing and cleaning up the mess that it makes. :)
• Stirred the black eyed peas.
• Checked in with Isaac who needed new toys and some lovin' and repositioning.  We are not able to get him up in his wheelchair yet, because of the shunt.  He still had some stomach issues yesterday due to the pressure, so they said to keep him reclined.  Since I can't get him in and out of the recliner, his bed is the best place to do that.
• Made afternoon snack:  banana-peach and parsley smoothie.

 (yes, it's green, and yes, it's very yummy!)

• Peeled all the bananas and broke them up into a freezer bag for smoothies for the rest of the week.
• Turned on the radio for Isaac, switched his toys again.  It's exciting to me when he gets bored.
• Downloaded some pics for this blog post, and figured out how to use a new program to edit them.

I have to tell you, my faithful blog readers, I believe I am finally on the mend!  I seem to be getting stronger and my back has not "gone out" since we got the new mattress.  Thank the Lord for that.  

I can't remember the last time I had the energy to go through a day like this!!!  It is very exciting to me!

Also, considering that I kept this pace the entire week that Doug was gone, then spent 48 hours at the hospital with my mom over the weekend, I am thrilled to be able to do all that I did today.

I know that so many of you pray for me on a daily basis, and I am so thankful for that.  Don't stop praying yet! ;o)  But now you can add a little praise in there that I am doing so well right now.

It's my plan to get ready and go to church tonight.  Afterwards, we will have choir practice and then I will practice for a duet on Sunday with my friend, Mrs. Sandy.  I should be good and tired by the time this day is over.

I pray your day has been productive, and that you can lay down tonight and count your many blessings.

I know I certainly will!

(a little blurry because he is in constant motion...) 

All pics were added for Dani - my photo-graphical inspiration! :)

Alesha

Links For You and An Isaac Update

I thought I'd share with ya'll just a few things I've run across lately that I thought you might be interested in.  All of these have links attached, even though my blog theme has them in such a subtle color that they don't jump right out at you.  Just hover over each one with your cursor to see the links.

• I know you will get a blessing from this post by Courtney at Nesting Instincts.  She and her children shared Valentines with the residents at a local nursing home. :)  Wonderful idea for next year!

• Michelle is embroidering her way through the year.  She is making such gorgeous things, too.  I am amazed at the projects she is doing with her new embroidery machine.  (Michelle is also mom to a beautiful girl with needs similar to Isaac's, so you will occasionally see Emily updates there too.)
  

• There are some amazing contest-winning photos here (click on the first picture, in order to see the other photos):  2009 Photo Contest - National Wildlife Federation

• This gets my chuckle-of-the-day award!  Pothole Gardens by Pete Dungey - "An ongoing series of public installations highlighting the problem of surface imperfections on Britain's roads."  (it will be interesting to hear Tia's take on this one!!!) :)

• I am going to be trying this salad, simply because it looks like such an odd mix of foods.  Those are the ones that I usually like!

• Our church radio station will be holding its annual Restorathon this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  This is how we raise the yearly budget for the upcoming year.  I love that you can listen live 24/7 to our station from the web - that is such a blessing to many around the world!  The station is a big blessing to us, too, because Isaac likes music so much.  We turn it on often for him, and he is starting to let us know when he wants the radio on.  That is how much of an impact that WLVF has had in our lives. 

The Restorathon begins at 7 a.m. on Thursday!  I am going to do my best to be up and alert and listening!!! :)  If you are unable to listen, perhaps you will help us pray that the budget will be met for this upcoming year, so that our station can continue to spread the Gospel around the world on WLVF!  Thanks so much!

Isaac Update:  the little stinker had no fever yesterday, and was feeling great (that means, loud and happy all day!!!); but today, his temp is just slightly elevated and he is one grumpy little man. :(  So, we're not quite sure what is going on there...we will just have to wait and see.

I pray you have a wonderful week!

Alesha

Vegetarian Vegetable Soup

I made a lovely pot of vegetable soup this week, and we have enjoyed it so much.  Since the weather has been chilly, we find ourselves craving warm, yummy things for supper.

This is how I make my soup:

• I start with one large bottle of tomato juice
• Add 2-5 T of Better-Than-Bouillon vegetable base (according to your taste)
• Add 1/2 head of cabbage, shredded (do not skip this step...it adds SO MUCH flavor!)
• Add diced veggies of your choice (I do an entire onion and 3 or 4 potatoes)
• Add canned veggies of your choice (I put in organic carrots, baby peas, large butter beans & great northern beans)
• Add any frozen veggie of your choice (I add 1/2 bag of yellow corn)
• Salt to taste
• Simmer all day

That's it!  You can put in whatever veggies your family likes, and add any seasonings you prefer.  It really is important to add that cabbage, though; and if your family doesn't like cabbage very much, don't worry, it cooks down to almost nothing.  But the flavor it adds --- YUMMO! :o)

Now, for you meat eaters (hehehe) I will tell you this:  this is Doug's grandma's recipe, minus two ingredients. 

• She browns a roast, then cooks it until tender; shreds it; and adds the beef and all the drippings to the soup.
• She adds a small amount of sugar to taste.

We thought we would really miss the meat, but we don't.  We love this soup with just the veggies, because, really, who needs more sugar in their diet?

I'd love to hear from you if you give it a try!

The Best Hummus Recipe Ever!

One of the dishes that Doug and I have really learned to enjoy on our Hallelujah Diet is hummus.  We have tried the store bought varieties and made a few batches with canned chick peas. 

However, when I found this recipe and tried it, we decided to never eat those other dishes again.  We are hooked on this stuff.  It is so good, and so good for us.

I took a dish of it to a potluck dinner the other night, and folks seemed to enjoy it.  They asked for my recipe, so here it is.  It is not original with me.  I found it while scouring the internet.  But I have changed it into my own words.  I didn't want to plagiarize someone's recipe. 

Hummus Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas (the smallest you can find, NOT from Mexico)
1/2 cup tahini
juice from 1 squeezed lemon
1-2 garlic cloves (I actually use 3-4)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
salt (I use less than a teaspoon)

Directions

1. Sort the chickpeas and look for damaged grains, small stones, or any other thing you need to discard.

2. Wash the chickpeas several times, until the water runs clear. Soak them in clean water over night with 1 tablespoon of baking soda, at least 12-24 hours.

3. Wash the chickpeas well and put them in a large pot. Cover with water, add the rest of the baking soda.  Do not add salt at this time. Cook until the chickpeas are very easily smashed when pressed between two fingers. I cook them for 45 minutes, then drain, rinse and cover with clean water, then cook an additional 45 minutes, or until done. 

4.You can remove any of the skins that come off the chickpeas and the foam which floats over the cooking water. (You do not have to remove all the skin from all the chickpeas.)  When done, drain the chickpeas and this is VERY IMPORTANT - keep the cooking water.

5. Put the chickpeas into a food processor and grind well.

6. Add the tahini, lemon, garlic, cumin and salt to the chickpea mixture and process with the food processor until you get the desired texture. If the Humus is too thick, add some of the cooking water. It should be thinner than the actual desired texture.

Then if you want to really kick your hummus experience into high gear, serve your hummus with a side of homemade Tahini Sauce.  I've included the recipe I use.  It only takes about 5 minutes to make.

Tahini Sauce Ingredients
1/3 cup raw tahini (tahini is sesame seed paste.  you should be able to find it in your local grocery store, although our Wally World does not carry it.)
1/3 cup cool water
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 small garlic clove
3-5 stalks of fresh parsley
salt (about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon)

Preparation
1. Put the tahini in a small bowl and pour in a little of the water.
2. Stir slowly until the texture starts to become thicker, then add more water and stir. Repeat a few times, stirring until smooth each time.
3. Add the lemon juice. Chop the garlic and the parsley well, and add them while stirring. If the tahini is too thick, add a little more water. Add the salt.
4. Serve with some chopped parsley on top.

Traditionally, hummus is eaten on a pita.  We don't particularly care for the taste of the pita, nor do we enjoy the calories they hold.  We eat our hummus with the new Nut-Thins crackers by Blue Diamond.  The pecan ones are especially yummy.  You can also serve fresh veggies with your hummus dip:  peppers, onions, radishes, cucumbers...just use your imagination.

Be sure to let me know if you try this recipe!  I'd love to hear what you think of it! :)

Blessings,

Alesha

It's Complicated...

 

It's decaf...

 

It's non-dairy...

 

It's non-fat and sugar-free...

 

It's tedious...

 

But it's worth it for my cup o' java every morning!

 

6 oz. water

3 level T. freshly ground decaf coffee

1/2 c. rice milk

1/2 T. agave nectar

a few drops each, vanilla and almond extract

: )

Alesha

Bold and Tangy Salad Boats

Ok, ya'll...I just made up this dish today, and it was so yummy, I knew I had to share it with you. : )

I get tired of salad reeeeeally quickly, but I know all of those beautiful, raw veggies are so good for me.  This is what I came up with:

Bold and Tangy Salad Boats

 

1/2 cucumber diced

1 vine ripened tomato diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press

Sea salt to taste

2 T. flax seed oil

2 T. balsamic vinegar

2-3 romaine lettuce leaves

Spinach leaves

Prepare veggies and set aside.  Combine oil and vinegar.  Pour oil and vinegar mixture over veggies, add salt to taste, and toss to mix.

Lay romaine lettuce "boats" on a plate and line each with 4-5 leaves of spinach.  Sprinkle with salt.  Spoon veggie mixture into each "boat".  Drizzle any extra oil and vinegar over the leaves.

 

Now there are so many variations on this, so just let your imagination go wild with it.  If you come up with something really yummy, be sure to let me know! 

I'm sure you could use olive oil instead of flax oil and any kind of vinegar.  I just used what I had on hand.  I call it bold and tangy because of the combination of the raw garlic and the vinegar.  It was just perfect!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are several things I need to share with ya'll, but it is going to be another busy week for us.  As soon as I can, though, I'll be sharing with you about the following:

1. a blog contest I won,
2. a special surprise for Isaac from Japan, and
3. Isaac's doctor visits this week. 

Thank you for your patience. : )

OH, and before I forget, I wanted to just Praise the Lord for the Miracle Offering at our church.  Thank you for your prayers! 

Our goal was $150,000, and we took up just over $238,000 with another $17,000 committed to be given in the next few months, giving us a total of over $255,000!!! 

Isn't that just amazing?!!!  Our God is SO great and mighty!!!

I can't wait to hear testimony of how God blesses the givers in our church!  It should be very exciting!

God bless your week,

Alesha

Some Things Won't Get Done Today

Doug and I are starting a new schedule this week, and we are going to see just how well it works.  Isaac will be going to therapy twice a week now.  I know the therapy will be good for him.  I'm just not sure how well our poor old truck is going to hold up with all the traveling.  I'm also not sure how the traveling will affect Doug - not that he is old, or anything!!! : )

I was really looking forward to my afternoon yesterday.  I have several rearranging/organizing jobs that need to be tackled in my tiny house.  I was going to jump into those projects while the boys were out. 

What I did not anticipate, however, was the headache that decided to attack with all its fury during the night on Monday.  I'm pretty sure it's related to sinus issues and all of the rainy weather we are having right now...lots of fronts coming through every day.

So yesterday, I did a whole lot of nothing...while trying to make the headache stop.  I finally took some migraine meds, which did ease the pain.  Unfortunately, it had caffeine in it, and I was awake until nearly 4 a.m. this morning.  8-o

Needless to say, my organizing jobs did not get done, but I'm not thinking today looks good for them either.  I'm feeling a wee bit sluggish and oh, so sleepy!

By the way, as per yesterday's advice, I am totally going to try this recipe with my fresh vegetable harvest.  (Please note my linking to this recipe does not endorse this entire site.  Surf with discretion.)

Well, I guess that's it for today.  If anything exciting happens, I'll be sure to come back and let you know.

: )
Alesha

Such a Nice Weekend

We had a really great weekend here in sizzling hot Florida.  Even the weather took a little break and was not in the high 90's the entire time.  We had a few showers that cooled things off a little bit, too.

On Saturday we decided to go on an adventure.  For us, you know, sometimes an "adventure" means that all three of us are in the truck and we're not going to a doctor's appointment!  So for us to go out of town - and not to a doctor - was an especially adventuresome day.

We took a trip to a grocery store:  Whole Foods Market in Orlando.

We didn't even know about this chain of stores, nor that we had one close by.  So when my brother, Michael, told us about it, we were eager to check it out.  (and praise the Lord for his other recommendation of "don't forget to take a cooler!")

It was one of the best shopping experiences we've ever had.  The employees in the store were extraordinarily helpful and polite. (Unlike the man at the mall last Saturday who asked me NOT to stand in front of his kiosk with Isaac if I wasn't buying anything because I was blocking his display!  And he did not have one customer at the entire enclosure!  So rude!) 

It was Saturday, so of course, the store was very busy; but even the other shoppers were polite and kind and smiled at my child.  Doug commented on it as we were living - that it was one of the nicest shopping trips for Isaac in a long time.  No one stared, or commented...maybe it was just because we were in a bigger city.  I don't know, but we had a nice time there.

Of course, everything was extremely expensive.  I'm going to be checking out their website today to see if they have online coupons or a magazine or newsletter, something that might have the occasional coupon.  If you know of anything, please let me know.

(The first thing I did see on the website this morning, as I grabbed the link for you, was a recipe.  And just look what recipe it was!!!  So funny, considering last week's mix-up!)

We found lots of yummy foods to try.  It was especially nice to have choices in the frozen food sections.  It is good for us to have a few convenience foods in our freezer all the time, and while we can find organic, healthy things at our local grocery store, our choices are very limited.  There's only one frozen organic vegan soup that doesn't contain soy (which I try to avoid); and only one cheeseless vegetarian pizza on a whole wheat crust.  It was really exciting to have so many choices and be able to try a few new dishes.

The produce was lovely and they had a nice selection.  The prices there weren't too bad, about the same as our local store.  If we were presently eating meat or seafood, they had many, many choices, including an octopus salad that was so gross looking I couldn't even stand to take a picture of it!  <<<shiver...>>>

There was a huge deli and pizza bar, along with a massive cold and hot food bar.  There were still lots of things that we really shouldn't eat for our diet, but it was nice to just look and smell.

On Sunday, we were both able to go to church, which is always a blessing.  We also worked really hard all weekend on laundry.  I feel like we made a respectable dent in it! : )

Well, it's lovely to be starting a new week.  I pray that you have a productive and peaceful Monday!

Blessings,
Alesha