Author: Lindsey (Page 14 of 88)

Breakfast Salad

December 7, 2012 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

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I love salads for breakfast!

I chop everything into small pieces, including the lettuce, and eat the whole salad with a spoon.

This particular breakfast salad contained:

Romaine lettuce

Apple

Avocado

Onion

Dried Cranberries

Pepitas

Stewed Figs

Apple Cider Vinegar

Freshly squeezed Orange Juice

Nama Shoyu Soy Sauce

Salt/Pepper

(and no oil, although you could certainly add some if you like)

Absolutely delicious!!!

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Sand + Jar = Candle holder

December 6, 2012 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

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The other day I found my baptism candle in some old stuff.

I tossed it in the trash — no need to keep that.

But then the next day I had a cool idea for a candle holder, so I poured some sand into a jar and fished my candle back out of the garbage.

I’ve never liked tapers because they’re so tippy and drippy, but this holder is the solution! The sand keeps them stable no matter how thin or wide they are, and it catches all the wax drippings.

Now I’m sure this idea has been thought up before by someone, somewhere — but I’ve never seen it done.

And so now that I’ve found a good way to hold tapers, I’m going to use them a lot more because they seem to give off more light than pillars or tea lights — maybe because there’s less wax in the way.

And I do like the simple aesthetic of the sand and the jar and the warm glow of a candle…

*****

Gratitudes ~ December 4, 2012

December 4, 2012 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

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♥

– A cold, cloudy day. We’re having a wacky, ultra-warm and sunny late Autumn here, and I miss the true seasonal weather!

– Well, okay, then again I’m also thankful for the warm, dry weather — it makes bicycling easier, and I can be outside lying in the sun which of course is great too! (But boy, some snow sure would be fun at some point…)

– Taking a sun bath on the floor with my cat.

– Watching a European Christmas program with Rick Steves on PBS. Have you seen that one? I enjoyed it so much.

– Attending a Waldorf school winter fair this year with my mom. I’ve been wanting to visit that school for a long time, just to have a look around and see it and feel it and gather impressions of it. It was lovely. What a beautiful, gentle introduction to the world those little children are getting. (For a lovely Waldorf blog, check out bendingbirches2010.blogspot.com.) Do you have experience with Waldorf — especially middle school or high school age? Care to share any pros and cons?

One of the holiday fair activities -- raw materials were provided in abundance, and children could create any little habitat they wanted, with the help of glue guns. It was great seeing kindergarten-aged children handling glue guns with such ease. Children are truly more capable than we give them credit for.

This classroom had been transformed into "Cookie Heaven" -- decorated by the 6th grade class, with 'semi-heavenly' live instrumental music provided by students hidden behind screens. When you walked in, it was very quiet except for the music. The 6th graders, dressed as angels, would guide the small children through Cookie Heaven, allowing them to choose a cookie (vegan & gluten-free of course). It was beautifully done, and also a riot!

– Down and wool, for warmth. Nothing compares to natural materials. What a gift!

– Spying cuteness when I was least expecting it. Can you find it in these pictures?

– Rearranging our plants and dining room area (where we don’t dine, in fact) — it feels much nicer and more cohesive.

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And how about you? Have you got any good gratitudes to share?

*****

Gratitude Sunday * November 25, 2012

November 25, 2012 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

***

♥

– Having new brakes put on my bike. Brakes are so nice to have, and now that I’m not rationing squeezes of the brake handles (I’m embarrassed to say), riding my bike feels downright luxurious. I’m also thankful that my energy level is slowly increasing so that I actually have the wherewithal to address life’s little details such as this!

– Lying outside in the sun on these warm and sunny days. And it’s so incredibly quiet out there since the season for power tools has largely passed. It’s really blissful out there, out in our yard (we have a yard wohoooooo!!!), out in the sun. How healing.

– The pumpkin pie! Remember how my post from Thanskgiving mentioned that I thought the pie had flopped? Never judge a pie by its cover evidently, because it was AWESOME! My dad left a comment on that post, and I think he expresses very well our collective impression of The Pie: “And now, the REST of the story…the pumpkin pie did NOT turn out to be a flop. It was firm, just like it should be, VERY tasty and not too sweet–but just right! The crust was not soft and almost mushy like other pumpkin pie crusts I’ve had, but almost crunchy (it was a very self-confident crust) and I liked it. It held together extremely well. I thought it was a hit!! an aside–beans were good, as usual, and cranbery sauce was excellent, with pieces of apple included to add more and different texture and flavor. Muy bien hecho…”

The funny thing is, that pie and its crust will go down as the best all of us have ever had! In fact I have never seen my Hubby go for pie (or really any dessert) like he did for that one. What a compliment! We all loved that pie… and what a great surprise that it was actually good.

– A wonderful Thanksgiving with the people I love. And then watching our annual movie, A Christmas Story, is always icing on the cake!

– Being able to walk a lot more. One year ago, it was such a different story. I was feeling so unbelievably sick, and one memory I will never forget is being hardly able to even walk across the street (a couple hundred feet) to the park with my mom and dad; I waited on the nearest bench, hardly able to sit and wanting to just lie down, while my parents walked around the park. And then walking back home again, another couple hundred feet, was an effort my body could hardly handle. I was so sick I felt like I was going to collapse and feared they’d have to carry me home — a sensation I had many, many times during that period. It was really scary. And from that vantage point, I couldn’t imagine myself ever walking much of anywhere again, which saddened me because previous to falling ill, I loved walking so much and walked everywhere. But now…NOW!!!! I am walking more and more and more! I am returning to my old self! I am now reliably able to walk to the grocery store and back — two miles!!!!! Yesterday I walked probably two or three miles, and today another two!!! I can’t even express how happy this makes me…

– Castelvetrano olives (Jeff’s Natural’s brand) — what a discovery (thanks Mom!) — they are incredibly delicious.

– The most loving, honest, heartfelt, sweet words spoken to me by my love, F. I love you so much honey…

– Working on drawing a mandala while listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio last night. Soul food!!!!

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And how about you? In this week of Thanksgiving, what things are you grateful for?

*****

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 22, 2012 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

We’re nearly ready to head to my parents’ place for dinner…with the pumpkin pie, green beans, and cranberry sauce. The pie sorta flopped… I used the organic healthfood store brand of canned pumpkin which seemed way too watery — and indeed, it was. The pie filling took forever to set, and the crust got overdone while that was happening. Now I know to always use Libby’s pumpkin! I also used electric beaters to mix the filling and I think I overmixed it and turned the thing into a bit of a souffle. I think it’ll still be good though, even if we’re just scraping pumpkin-pudding-souffle out of an overdone crust! (Who needs those crust calories, anyway.)

The beans turned out nicely — just cooked those in salted water and added a bit of butter and Penzey’s RuthAnn’s Muskego Ave Seasoning. They’re yummy.

The cranberry sauce I think will be very nice too; I started with a can of organic whole cranberry sauce, then added my own fresh cranberries and freshly squeezed orange juice, and then simmered it along with a cinnamon stick, strips of fresh orange zest (use a carrot peeler to peel off strips), and fresh ginger slices.

On the phone a minute ago, my mom and I were marvelling at how it’s the exact same food every year, but each year it seems like a totally new meal — like we’re reinventing the wheel and things we’ve made year in and year out turn out differently, somehow!

Anyway, have a happy time with friends and family!