Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Tonight's dinner was a strange-sounding recipe I found in my favorite vegetarian cookbook, The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook: Black bean, sweet potato, and greens enchiladas. We like sweet potato quesadillas, so I thought I'd try this. We also eat a lot of beans (which we've done even before cutting out meat altogether) and black beans are our favorite. It's one of the quicker recipes I've made lately, taking only about an hour start to finish including baking time. You sautee onions, then add the cubed pieces of sweet potatoes, then add some chopped greens (I used spinach and kale). The recipe didn't call for corn, but I threw it in anyway to give us a good assortment of veggies. That was the filling. I made a homemade enchilada sauce with raw heavy cream from the dairy farm and pico de gallo. I used raw fresh colby cheese inside the enchiladas and over the top. (In fact, our dairy farm wins awards every year at the Illinois State Fair for its cheeses, and their colby is my favorite! The cheese we get from them is never any more than a couple of days old because of the demand it has!)

Complemented by a bed of homemade brown spanish rice, it was DELICIOUS. Pete wasn't home from work for dinner (working in 83-degree weather-ugh!), but the kids absolutely loved this. They ate more than I thought and I had to stop them to make sure we had enough left over for Pete!



In case some of you are noticing, we are enjoying the benefits of raw milk and cheeses from our local dairy farm. This is something friends of ours in Minnesota told us about. They had to go to Otsego every Tuesday morning to enjoy this. Why, some of you may ask, would you do that? Here's a good link:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/03/26/pasteurized-milk-part-one.aspx

Before we moved here, we were buying organic milk, which got really expensive. Even with that, Vince was still having daily lactose problems. Now I've learned that pasteurization of milk, whether organic or conventional, alters the lactose properties of milk. Since we've started drinking raw milk and eating raw cheeses, Vince has had complete elimination of lactose symptoms! We're also getting the good bacteria that comes with raw milk which is so important to healthy digestive function. In case you're interested, this link has some good links about how to find raw milk. Got (raw) milk?!

Easter Reflections

As I looked back on our 2008 Easter, I found myself at first longing for that big extended family easter dinner. Admittedly, I had feelings of loneliness creeping up on Sunday without our extended family and friends around us. But as I reflect on it, I have learned something very important.

Before I go into that, here's a picture of us that morning. We taught the kids that this is the most special day ever and so out of respect for God and in celebration of such a special day, we all try to look our best.


After a WONDERFUL church service, we came home and worked on making sticky buns together. We rolled out the dough, and the kids helped spread butter on it, brown sugar, cinnamon, and here's Vince putting on the pecans. It was so much fun that the kids asked if we could make them every Sunday. (I think it had something to do with the taste, too.)


They turned out great. I was most pleased with the bread dough considering it was my first successful homemade whole wheat bread dough. For my mom, sisters, and brothers, it tasted like a healthy version of monkey bread! (Still a little too sweet for me though.)

Here's our dinner. To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of the "meatloaf". I loved the mushroom gravy though. Pete (of course) said he really liked it and brought the leftovers with him to work today. Gabie loved the kale and olive oil mashed potatoes (that must be a trait that runs in my side of the family!) But everything turned out just as it was supposed to, including. . .


The upside-down caramelized apple cake. Topped off with a scoop of ice cream, it was moist in the middle and caramelly on the top. Pete didn't save enough room for it after the "meatloaf," but he tried it later and loved it. I cut the amount of sugar in half that the recipe called for in the cake batter and you would never know the difference! Our day still included a lot of sweets, which we told the kids that it's okay on that day because it's the sweetest day of the year!



Now, for my easter reflections. This year, spiritually, proved to be the best easter ever. Without the buzz and chaos of family get-togethers, I was able to focus solely on Christ and what he did for us. I spent all my time in the kitchen reflecting on the magnitude of what He did and turned to Him in my loneliness. Even though in prior years we went to church before going to an easter get-together, that hour or two wasn't enough time to reflect on these things. I think it was a matter of having the whole day to cut out the chaos and try to wrap my brain around the supernatural things that took place solely out of God's love for us that resurrection day. From this, I can see why maintaing the Sabbath isn't just about going to church on Sundays and then going about the rest of our day as usual. Those days, in their entirety, should be used as a day of reflection without chaos or obligations to other things like sports. Just thought I'd share a little bit about what God revealed to me while my mind wasn't occupied with other things! Hope this Easter revealed some of God's wisdom to "y'all"! (I'm not really saying that word yet.)

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!!

Happy Resurrection Day everyone! Death couldn't hold Him down! Jesus showed that he is the Son of God and opened up the door to heaven for us. Rejoice in the gift of eternal life with me! Praise God! Here's the promised sequel to Good Friday's video. (Caution: contains very brief graphic scenes.)

Video

Easter Egg Hunt!

Today we did our own easter egg hunt for the kids in our yard. We started at about 11am when the temp got to be about 53 degrees. It was beautiful outside and we have lots of hiding places in our yard. The previous residents were avid gardeners and they used many of the rocks that were on the lot before laying the foundation for landscaping. (The neighbors who have lived in this neighborhood for over 15 years told us they had to blow apart the rocks in the ground enough to lay concrete down for the foundation of this house.) There's big and small rocks all over the edges of our yard and many plants.

(That's Dylan with his "Yoda" walking stick he found during spring clean up.)Pete got up before everyone and hid the color-coded eggs, making Vince's and Dylan's harder to find. While Gabie's were right out in the open, he had no interest in picking them up and putting them in his basket. He found out that the rest of the kids' eggs made noise when shaken (they had coins in them), and after that he had even less interest in his eggs. (And since he won't let you take his hat off or his nuk out of his mouth, this is the best picture I could get!)

Faith was her usual poser self in front of the camera and loved the egg hunt.

She told Pete and me that this was the best easter ever. (She says that every year.)

Vince was having a hard time finding his last couple of eggs, and instead he found something that made Dylan's dreams come true: a treefrog! (Sorry-not the best picture!)Dylan wasn't sure if he'd ever see the infamous tree frogs that we saw so many of in Minnesota and immediately begged us to let him keep it. This one was extra special, too, because it was a very big gray tree frog! So, our day took a wild turn and we headed for the pet store after lunch. We bought substrate for it's home and crickets. Dylan said he knows God sent this to him for an easter gift just like he sent him an armadillo for a birthday gift! (However, I'm not really sure Dylan's position on the other critters that we've seen. In the past three days during our lawn clean up and just playing outside, we've seen six small reptiles. We know two of them for sure are some sort of skink, and the other ones could have been the same thing or small garter snakes. In fact, I just read that Oklahoma ranks third in all fifty states for it's number of reptile and amphibian species. They also have seven different kinds of poisonous snakes, including the cottonmouth/water moccassin. We're definitely not going to any beaches down here, but I think God meant for me to be here to overcome my fear of snakes!)

Anyway, after dinner and baths, we decorated easter eggs. Since we plan on eating them, we used crayons and stickers instead of artificial dyes. (Although if you have the time and energy, you can use lots of foods for natural dyes, like red onion peels boiled in water and vinegar.)

Vince decorated one to look like the fire-bellied toad we saw at the pet store because it's his favorite type of frog. In the future, we may have a frog colony in our home! (Yes, I can do frogs; amphibians are okay.)

What a day we had! Tomorrow we'll be at our church's easter performance and afterwards I'll be making a vegetarian easter dinner. The menu includes sticky buns with homemade whole wheat bread dough and fruit salad for brunch; dinner will be mock "meatloaf" with mushroom gravy, kale and olive oil mashed potatoes, garlic green beans, and upside-down caramelized apple cake for dessert. We are so excited for this coming day of Christ's resurrection!

Happy Good Friday!

Happy Good Friday to everyone I love, saved and unsaved. Please take 3 minutes to watch this video; especially after what Jesus endured for us this day. (It's not graphic.) Check back on Sunday for the uplifting sequel!

Good Friday Video

Yummy!

As promised, here's some more visual delectables for you to view. Fortunately, both the two recipes I recently tried turned out. I had some concerns, but they came together surprisingly well.

I knew the butternut squash lasagna with mushrooms would be good, because we are big fans of butternut squash. We usually make it with spinach/cheese ravioli, but this was a really nice change. Dylan said he even liked the pieces of butternut squash separate from his lasagna. The butternut squash was simmered in vegetable broth with fresh thyme and sage, and the white stuff is a mixture of ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, and egg. We completed it with a side salad of baby greens. For those of you who haven't made the switch to whole wheat pasta, lasagna is a GREAT way to start, especially with kids. We've fed lasagna to many people who had no idea they were eating whole wheat pasta.

Tonight's cuisine was quinoa/buckwheat groat-stuffed peppers. Sounds weird?! I thought so too, but it was all carefully prepared. The buckwheat groats were simmered in broth with sauteed onions and garlic; the quinoa was cooked in broth with chopped sundried tomatoes. Then they were mixed together with tomato puree, frozen organic corn, and seasonings and then stuffed into the peppers. The recipe called for the stuffed peppers to be steamed in a pan, but I made this at lunch time so I could put it in the crockpot. I put the leftover broth in the bottom of the crockpot and turned it on low. At dinner time, I was admittedly surprised with how well it turned out. I had my doubts about the buckwheat groats, but combined with the quinoa, it was better than rice. (Although I can't compare it with any other buckwheat groats recipe-this is the first time I've used them!) The texture and taste was much more superior to the rice recipes I've made before. Pete liked it better than ones I've made in the past, including those with meat! We topped these off with some fresh raw cheddar (All of our cheese is white, in case you're wondering. The dairy farm doesn't add coloring to it.). If I were trying to be really presentable, I would've remembered to buy some fresh mangos to serve with this meal, but we settled for oranges tonight! Just email if you're interested in the recipe(s) and I'll be happy to forward it on!

Our Secret's Out!

Okay, many of you have noticed or heard that we've completely cut meat out of our diets. For those of you who know us well, you know this isn't too drastic of a change for us. Previously, we ate meat only two or three times a week. After Pete confessed that he no longer cared if we ate meat, I gladly cut out that little bit that we had. We're not against meat, we just don't like how it makes our bodies feel. Besides, getting it from a respectable source just costs too much money! (To address a concern some of you have had: we ARE getting enough protein. In fact, Americans on average get three times more protein than their bodies need!) After I learned about the digestive tract of meat-eating felines and how our's just doesn't match up, I questioned whether or not God designed our bodies to eat meat. (Check my freelance writing website for more info on vegetarian facts: www.healthyfamiliesforGod.com).

Our meals haven't changed too much, but I have experienced with some new recipes. Cooking has become another hobby of mine lately and it's been lots of fun. But before I go on, I want to make sure I give props to my hubby. I couldn't do this without his support.

Speaking of his support, here's a meal he surprisingly liked. I wasn't sure if he would, but he ended up having three bowls! It is Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) lentil soup with grilled soy cheese sandwich and spinach side salad. I've been trying to find new ways to use quinoa and lentils, so this was perfect. The kids, who are used to strange food anyway, liked it more than I thought they would too. I figure it won't be necessary to post the recipe, but if you're interested let me know and I'll email it to you!

For dessert, I made berry berry delicious crisp. We hadn't had at least 3 servings of fruits that day, so I took a bag of frozen mixed berries and made a crisp dessert. I couldn't get a picture before the kids got into it, so this is how it looked when I could get to it!

Here's our new favorite meal: Spinach alfredo pizza. Our previous favorite was chicken alfredo pizza and this was its replacement. Again surprising me, Pete said he liked this better than the chicken alfredo pizza. I just made my homemade whole wheat crust as usual, then made an alfredo sauce, mixed spinach and garlic in it, and put mozzarella and parmesan cheese over the top. (Yes, we still have dairy products-we're not vegan. We sometimes do like to switch milk/cheeses with non-dairy options though just to mix it up. I could never give up our fresh, raw milk from the dairy farm!) If you want the recipe for either my whole wheat crust or homemade alfredo sauce, let me know! In the future, I'll post some of our dinners and snacks and the recipes for them. This week's menu includes butternut squash lasagna with mushrooms and quinoa stuffed peppers!

New Friends in OK

Through our new church homeschool group down here, we had the opportunity to meet some new friends. The Ralston family has four kids, all the same ages as our kids! They homeschool, go to our church, and are health nuts like us! Vince

met their oldest son Zac in church class one Sunday and came home talking about the new friend he had met. That evening, his mom, Melissa, called me up and we found out just how much our families have in common. Melissa and I are the same age, her and her husband got married the same year as Pete and me, and she LOVES homemade and organic food! So after church a couple of Sundays ago, we had the pleasure of enjoying their company at our home. Here's all eight kids:

Faith's new friend just happened to have the same name as her favorite princess from a Barbie movie, Annaliese! Needless to say, they clicked right away:

Gabie, on the other hand, wasn't so sure what to do with another little one his age. They had some good moments though:

Lately, through the problems with my Grandma's health failing, Melissa (the other mom) has been a wonderful prayer warrior for Grandma. Thanks Melissa! It means more than you'll know! And thanks to all the Ralstons for a fun day/night!

Our First Official Visitor from MN!!

Who more appropriate to be our first visitor than our favorite babysitter/best friend, Justine?! After we left Minnesota in December, her and her parents booked her flight down here for March 4th. It seemed like such a long way off at the time, but it came up quicker than we expected! So we took our first trip to the Tulsa airport to pick her up. It was so exciting to watch all the big airplanes land and take off.

Gabie found a table at the airport that he REALLY liked. It was round with a round hole in it. Without hesitation, Gabie figured out what to do with that table!As we watched the screens for Justine's flight, the time kept going up and we ended up at the airport for 2 hours. It was such an adventure though that the time went by fast. When she arrived, it was such a cool feeling for all of us!

(Okay, Gabie was a little unsure at first. But it only took him a few minutes to get warmed right up to Justine!)

For Justine's last day with us in Oklahoma, we were honored to be able to celebrate her 17th birthday with her! For those of you who remember when we first met Justine, it was 6 years ago! Dylan was just 6 months old! Since then, she's been at their birthday parties, Vince's baptism last year (which we also celebrated the one-year anniversary for on Justine's birthday), Faith's first steps and first easter, and so much more! While she was here, she even got to watch Dylan test for his first karate belt! (See later posting for that!)

The weather didn't warm up until her last two days here, so when it did we took her to the infamous Catoosa Blue Whale on Route 66.

It was so quiet there and the weather was so nice, we just relaxed there for an hour. The kids threw anything they could find on the ground into the water,

And Justine and Vince discovered that fish like acorns!

Justine, you mean so much to our family! Thank you and thank you to your parents for making it all possible! We love you!

This Video Says it All