StevenLaura

S is spending his vacation doing things he can't justify doing in NC while dissertating. Like reading books for fun. We've taken to reading this particular book on the road, as you probably guessed from an early post.


Yesterday S spent a lot of time reading it.


That night we both were in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. The following conversation proves that (a) we are both tired from travel and (b) s has spent too much time reading this book...

S: L, I don't think you have your towel in h...


L: Oh, man! So I just squirted this (indicated handsoap) into my hand thinking it was my face soap! You know, cuz they're both orange with the


S: Yeah, I know, pump thingy. But, L, your wand. I really don't think your wand is in here.


L: ?? My wand??!? Do you mean this blue towel?! (points to towel, not wand, hanging on the back of the bathroom door.)


S: Oh, yeah.

I helped daddy play a game of chess against my second cousins yesterday.














And I met my other second cousin, Anders.















AND a puppy dog named Lola. SHE was my FAVORITE!!! I giggled and laughed as she licked my hand, and I liked petting her a lot. I spent most of the afternoon watching her walk around the porch. I didn't like it quite as much when she jumped up and gave me face kisses, but still, it was worth having her around! Mommy tells me that my Aunt Laura has a dog just like this one!! (Only a couple pounds bigger.) I'm really excited to meet him someday. Maybe I should be a couple pounds bigger first, though, as this little guy (who is also five months old!) was just about the right size for me. Any bigger, and I might have been scared.










Anders is even smaller than I am, so he didn't get to meet the puppy. But he did get to sit in my bumbo chair. He liked that.







My Great Uncle Larry is GREAT!!! He played with me. I loved the wooden cat. Here I am trying to catch it!













Hello Cat.

Here's me in WV. I wasn't really sure I liked WV. I have a cold! What were you thinking bringing me places where my already congested ear would be popping every five seconds?











But I did take time to stop and smell the roses [shhh! she doesn't know they're not roses!] and otherwise had a pleasant trip. (Once we got out of the mountains!)










AND THEN WE WERE AT GREAT GRANDMA'S HOUSE!!! I WAS SOOOOO happy to be there!












Grandma and I had some serious conversations on the porch overlooking Lake Michigan. It was great to have decades of wisdom passed down to me.

Today's Parenting Lesson:
Do not take E thorough WV. E does NOT like West Virginia. (We think this has less to do with WV and more to do with her cold and ear congestion.)

E knows that her parents stretch each night before bed, (well, at least her daddy does) so she thought she'd give them a couple pointers. Here's HER bedtime stretching.
Step 1: Start at a 45 degree angle.
Step 2: Gradually reach forward...
until your head is on the ground. Easy, see?
Step 3: reward yourself by eating your toes!

Mommy can make it to about step 1 or 2. Daddy stops at step 0 (90 degrees, not shown).

I guess we've got a bit of work to before we're as cool as our daughter.

S thinks this looks painful. I think it looks very relaxing.

So, my dear older brother -- even though YOU have not posted pics of my nieces in several weeks, perhaps even a month, _I_ shall post. And, to make up for lost time, I shall post a lot... Are you all ready?

(Oh, and simpsons versions of your family members really don't count as "family pictures" older bro!)


I call this "E and me, discussing serious literature." Okay, so... you can probably tell from the size and colored cover of the book I'm reading -- it's not very serious literature. BUT! I DID finish in time for the movie -- thanks, T.P. & S for babysitting for us! -- and book six is done so now I'm ready for Friday!

Here is E watching the Tour De France in our friends' house, while they looked after her the other day.

Recipe of the Day

So lets say that you decided to make the Vegan Rice Pilaf, but found, as we did, that you had a ton left over, what do you do? Have no fear, Vegan-In-A-Can is here to help:

Add one can of diced tomatoes, one can of kidney beans, some frozen corn, a bunch of vegetable broth, Cinnamon, chili powder, salt, pepper, bay leaves....etc...

And you have our meal from two days ago: Vegan Chili.

I know what you are thinking: "This is a dumb recipe! Heck you can throw anything in a pot, cook it long enough with some chili powder and it will taste like chili." To which my response is "Exactly."

Labels: Chili, Healthy, recipes, Vegan, Vegan-In-A-Can, Yummy

Recipe of the Day
Steve and I made this African Chickpea and Spinach Soup several weeks ago. We found it in the magazine hyperlinked here, and lent to us by a family member. (Thanks, Grandma! :) )

We were a bit skeptical at first. After all, we'd never thought to mix peanut butter, spinach, chick peas, tomatoes, and cayenne pepper in the same dish... that said, it turned out SOOOO yummy, that I had to recommend it to you. A lovely, yummy, and an unusual combination makes for a unique dish.

**Vegan
**30 minutes or less (quick)
** VERY tasty!!!

Merits: Unique and yummy.

Tips/Suggestions/Downfall: Hot summer days and making soup don't mix. Also, could be a bit spicy (warning for those who don't like spice. Steve doesn't, so we substituted a little chili powder for the cayenne pepper - that and we didn't have cayenne pepper in the house - and that seemed to work just fine.) Also, just unusual enough that you might not want to make it for guests the first time around. Finally, we didn't have creamy peanut butter in the house, so we used chunky (the "real stuff" that you have to stir before you can serve, not the jiffy stuff) and found we really liked the addition of peanut bits in our soup. I don't think I'll ever even try the soup with smooth peanut butter.

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Today is too warm a day for this endeavor, however, so Steve's out buying hummus, tomatoes, pita bread (my requirement) and sprouts. We've got cucumber and lettuce in the fridge, so yummy sandwiches here we come!!! (This was the entirety of Steve's shopping list. But he's going to one of his favorite grocery stores to buy these four ingredients, so my guess is that he somehow finds a way to at least double the length of this list. I'm expecting granola to somehow find its way into his cart. :) )

Recipe of the Day
* Fast & Easy
* Less than five ingredients
* Vegan

VEGAN RICE PILAF invented by my dear husband
Ingredients:
- Your choice of canned vegetable soup, with a vegetable broth base.
- Brown Rice
- Water
- Extra spices to season to taste (i.e. chili powder, or curry powder, etc.) [optional]

Directions:
-Count canned vegetable soup as slightly less than one cup of liquid (I'd say about 3/4 cup).
-Dump rice, soup, and enough water in to saucepan to make the ratio 2-to-1 liquid-to-rice.
- Cook, covered, on medium heat until rice is fully cooked. [Check periodically to make sure there is enough water in saucepan. In the end, the rice should have swallowed up all the liquid in the pan and be soft and chewy.]

So, for example, if using one cup of rice, add one can of soup and slightly over one cup (1 1/4 cup, perhaps?) of water. Cook until done.

- Season with extra spices, as desired and to taste.
Serve.

Merits: Easy, fast, uses ingredients that can be stored in the pantry (so can be used when there's "nothing in the house.") Very filling. Uses only one dish. Practically makes itself.

Tips/Suggestions/Downfalls: I recommend seasoning, as the cheapest canned veggie soup can be fairly flavorless. Maybe throw some crushed garlic or onion in to the bottom of the pan, and saute in oil before adding the brown rice and soup. Downfall: Heavy on carbs, not good for one of my parents. That said, the brown rice is a fairly good carb.

Also, we had baked sweet potato with cinnamon sprinkled on top as a side. This was a nice addition!



Explanation for this post:
Several years ago our extended family started falling, one by one, into a vegan lifestyle, mostly for health reasons. Now, both our fathers are (essentially) vegan, both because their lives depend on it. We've taken the hint, and taking action before we fall victim to their ailments. (Their ailments are hereditary.) S has agreed to "become vegan insomuch as we can find yummy vegan food. But I'm not going to sacrifice my enjoyment of food for the cause." We have now found enough recipes that we enjoy, adding them to our meal rotation, that we no longer think to buy meat. We are NOT vegans yet, we may never get there (Steve loves his milk) but we are wavering on being vegetarians, and really only eat meat when out at friends' houses.

Since we've been discovering so much, we thought we'd share some of our recipes with you. This isn't the yummiest we've come up with, but it sure is convenient.

Labels: Vegan