a simple dinner

Someday I will be able to divert my office 9-5 energies and they will be better used by making homemade everything. Bread, yogurt, cheese, almond milk, soaps are just some of the ideas I have swirling in my head.  Using my hands to slowly create nourishing things for my family is something I am so excited to do. But right now I am in a place where I have to be more choosy about the foods and projects I tackle, and dinners simply can't take 3 hours to make. That doesn't mean they can't be just as healthy, however! This recipe I found at this gluten free mostly vegan free blog, has it all. Allergen free(neither of us are actually allergic to anything, except cats*, but I try to limit allergen foods when I can just because), nutritious, made in less than 30 minutes, and a whopping 4 dollars for the whole pan and like a dollar more to make this recipe organic(I used organic beans, but I forgot to buy the organic chard, and the organic potatoes at trader joe's only come in a huge bag not individually and we wouldn't have gotten around to eating them all), and it also makes a couple servings of leftovers. Here is the recipe.

Potato, Black Bean, & Swiss Chard Hash
Serves 4, or 2 with leftovers
2 large russet potatos, chopped into a small dice - 39 cents each
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1/4 cup white onion chopped small
1 can black beans rinsed and drained - 1.19 organic can
1 bunch Swiss chard (I used half a trader joe's bag), sliced into ribbons & thick stems diced - 1.99 a bag
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika, optional (I didn't use it, instead added a bit of garlic powder)
Generous pinch of salt
Plenty of black pepper

Place olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and a generous pinch of salt, toss to coat. Cover the skillet and cook for 9 minutes (mine took more around 11), tossing occasionally to ensure that all sides of the potatoes are browning and getting crisp.

Add the onions and Swiss chard stems to the skillet and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until softened.  Add the black beans to the skillet and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes, flipping once or twice, to ensure that the beans are heated through.

Add the ribbons of Swiss chard and cook briefly until wilted slightly. Remove from heat and sprinkle in the spices, black pepper, and additional salt to taste. Ben added sriracha because duh.  Serve immediately, preferably with a side of Arrested Development Season 4.

Could also use: sweet potato, any other green veggies you happen to have on hand, crumbled sausage, corn, this recipe is super versatile. Enjoy!

Potato, Black Bean, & Swiss Chard Hash

*there are definitely no cats in this recipe.

Diets and lack thereof

There's always something new. Juice. Don't juice! Paleo. Gluten Free. Raw. None of these are inherently good or bad, despite all the very opinionated soapboxers who have nothing to do but put down other people's idea of healthy eating. I'm just glad that the conversations have shifted its focus from low fat, low carb, low taste, to what's natural and whole. I feel like that's why people inherently don't like 'healthy' foods anyway, cause they eat the ones that are just as processed as the junk food kind, or even more so. For either health or personal reasons, i'm glad that people are starting to care more about food overall in its natural state without unnecessary processing. Being mindful of what you're putting in your body is a beautiful thing. I grew up eating boxed mac & cheese, junk food, canned vegetables, steak steak steak and more steak. Even though I guess I turned out alright (I dunno, you tell me), I am so fascinated with the idea of eating holistically and naturally. Being fully in charge of what I consume now has made me much more aware of everything food companies shove into those cardboard boxes.

One of the simple things I've discovered is instead of looking at the calorie content and nutrition facts, looking at the actual ingredients. Often I would hear people say "oh it has only 2 grams of fat!", but if they had looked at the ingredient list they would have noticed the second one was high fructose corn syrup. And i'm happy to see people slowly shifting towards the latter. Or even better, not buying things in a box at all. It is amazing how easy that is! My new rule of thumb is if I want something sweet/salty/bready, I have to make it myself. It's loads cheaper, my family is only eating ingredients we can pronounce, and most of the time i'm so dadgum lazy I just end up eating a banana anyway. Win win win.

A 'diet' (if you would call it that) i heard about recently is called VB6, or vegan before 6. And I realized that's almost exactly my lifestyle, in my case it's mostly vegetarian though. Eat nuts, whole grains, fruit and veggies for breakfast and lunch, and whatever you want for dinner. You probably think "ohh but it's bad to eat all your fatty foods at night", but after eating wholesome foods all day, your actually probably less likely to binge knowing you can eat what you want every night, not just on a giant binge cheat day one measly time a week. You can enjoy whatever tasty delicious real healthy foods you choose during the day, and then get to enjoy social gatherings to the fullest without worrying about calories. I don't know about you, but that sounds awesome.

All this to say that I got this dream of a blender system and i'll be occasionally posting recipes I make up. I haven't done a juice fast/cleanse as of yet, still researching and deciding which one would the best fit for me(and would hopefully tempt husband to join), but I definitely am a fan of morning juices. Today: one banana, one teeny organic apple, one carrot, some grated ginger, ground flaxseed, and a big bunch of kale.

#morningjuice #hello_juice

On being 25

No not me. Husband turned 25 yesterday. And even though that's not really an 'old' age, I still thought that life would have been very different by the time we got here. How time creeps up on you. But this isn't about being old, it's about husband! Here are 25 reasons I love him, i'll try to not make it too mushy:

-He does the dishes cause knows how much I loathe them (i'd rather clean the toilet).
-His middle name is Laurence, I just think that's so cute.
-He is hands down the most creative person i know. I feel bad, I kind of loan him out to friends for creative projects, but I just love seeing his handiwork! And I pay him in cookies and pancakes.
-I love cooking with him. It's so relaxing and satisfying to create a meal almost silently, knowing what the other is going to do and how they're going to do it. Often the recipes are completely made up and although simple, those are my favorite.
-We both get just as obsessed at good television.
-I love that he always always has music playing. I usually forget about music completely, or can't think of anything good to play, and he somehow always picks some slightly obscure tune that fits perfectly with the day. Lately: this song
-His mustache. Self-explanatory.
-He doesn't mind that I fall asleep during ever. single. movie.
-It's funny and nice that we are both are kind of against the idea of "favorite" bands, movies, books, etc.
-One time he let me french braid his beard.
-He lets us share our meals...(well, he's still getting used to the idea)
-We have the exact same taste in children's names. Ha. I just hear stories of other people never coming to agreements until they practically have a nameless 6 month old (not really), and ours have been picked out for years and they're still perfect.
-He wears funny socks
-He has even more wanderlust than I do. Next stop: the concrete jungles of New York & Philadelphia.
-I just found out he (illegally!) skateboards all over campus.
-He wants a big beautiful goldendoodle. Can't wait till we have a house that will fit one!
-He doesn't mind that we don't have an iron and all his clothes are always wrinkly (actually he probably does but he's really good at not showing it).
-He waters my plants when I forget, which is pretty much every day.
-He has better handwriting than me.
-He folds sheets better than me.
-He wraps presents better than me.
-He does most things better than me, actually.
-He is always encouraging me to be creative, currently trying to teach me guitar (unsuccessfully so far, i'm a forgetful one)
-He has been the most supportive husband I could possibly imagine, during the fantastic times as well as the low times. I can't imagine going through life with anyone better (I was doing so good not being mushy!)
-He married me! That's a pretty good reason eh?



-R

two of my favorite men, who just so happen to share a birthday.

Dinner Misadventures

I decided to bust out my yeast last night.

Almost 5 years ago I went to Uganda and learned that people have ways of making very delicious things with much less than what was in my parents kitchen that was always stuffed to the brim and yet had nothing appetizing to make. Long sentence short, I had great aspirations to bake bread every day and live more simply. Last night, nearly 5 years later, I opened the bottle of yeast I bought for the first time. 

So I made pizza. Unsure as to whether it was still good, my first attempt at proofing the yeast went awry as I missed the fact you were supposed to put sugar in the water. Fail #1. Second try seemed also unfruitful but there was at least some action so I mixed the rest of the ingredients (oil, flour, salt) and things were lookin' good. I made a HUGE pizza crust, piled it high with fresh mozzarella, kielbasa and sweet potatoes. Excitement began to grow slowly, just like the yeast. Then I looked at the size of my little oven....fail #2. I decided to cut it into two pizzas, and with much difficulty put said pizzas onto their own cookie sheets. I got them onto the sheets with the help of husband, and (tried) to stick them in the oven.

And then I remembered the cookie sheets i'm using, the ones our landlords gave us for a Christmas present (what landlord gives Christmas presents!?), are too big for our oven. Why they gave us cookie sheets that are too big for the oven they know we have is another mystery. But by now, I had stared rather sadly at the cookie sheets that are sticking out of the half shut oven door for too long, and now the sheets were white hot and the dough had already begun to soften. We tried to slide the pizza onto a proper cookie sheet, and I watched it falter and the pizza started falling both slowly and quickly towards the floor, kielbasa strewn and mozzarella dashed of all its pizza hopes and dreams. This is where I just burst into hysterical laughter and instead of being normal people, we threw it back onto the sheet and shoved it in the oven hoping the 450 degrees kills anything gross. 

And it was delicious. And much more fun than going out and getting a pizza.

What did YOU do for dinner?

april and so forth

What a world wind year this has been. I had intentions for this blog to be where I wrote the simple pleasures in life these days, but as the days go by it seems God is causing us search a little harder for such pleasures. Not that they aren't there, they certainly are, but I almost feel challenged to really dig to find the gems. Here are some of them so far.

Our landlords let us get a dog! We have been searching through every single rescue and shelter in orange county hoping to find our perfect little companion. Every single one we have set our hearts on has been mysteriously snatched up two seconds before we get the chance. As our search continues rather fruitlessly, my mom has gotten the itch to get a pup as well. She rescued the most beautiful German Shepherd Dog, she's perfect even though she came to us sick and continually blowing snot and blood out her nose. So while we still hunt, we get to be cool aunts and uncles to Nico.

We're in three weddings in May! (you read that right) And while it might get slightly (ok, really) hectic leading up to it, each one of those days is going be such a blessing, seeing dear friends and my sister marry their one and only! What a gift. It makes me think about how far Ben and I have come since that October morning long, long ago(ahem) when we said our vows to each other, and how much sanctifying they have to look forward to ;)


After all the wonderful craziness that is promised in May, we figured we should take a little breather from life and relax a bit, so we've decided to go to the quaint, quiet town of New York City. For a girl who is ashamed to say she has never been east of Vegas, i'm a little excited.


And i guess the last piece of good news lately is this girl. My very belated birthday present has finally arrived! Ben drew and designed her, an interpretation of a painting by Alphonse Mucha, Czech artist in the 1800's. (Yes she's finished)

I guess I don't have to search very hard after all. 2013 is looking up

-R

Living Fully

I started a new book today, (thanks to Rachel for the suggestion!) and I've only gotten a few pages in and realized I probably can't read this on my lunch breaks unless I want everyone to see me weep like a little girl.  

In the opening chapters alone she honestly lays out what a lot of us are scared to admit even to ourselves, or at least I know for a fact I do. In the midst of incalculable loss,we can begin to question whether God is truly good, whether he really has our best interests at heart. With all the terrible slayings happening this past year, it's definitely something that sneaks into our mourning hearts. In our heads we know the answer, the one that most of us have grown up hearing in church pews. But it's our hearts that bleed and cry out...why. And how do we respond to that? Like her, I "hunger for filling in a world that is starved'. And I wonder how, in the midst of often mediocre, day to day living, to "live fully so I will be fully ready to die". Sometimes these things aren't even in my conscience, and yet I know deep down I worry over them. 

Now that I have to get back to work, teary-eyed and all, I am anxious to discover what she discovers about God's unending grace and love and perfect plan for his people. Keep you posted. And if anyone wants to start a book club, get at me, bro.

Dare to live an emptier, fuller life.

I have a problem.

I am not what you would call a creature of habit.  To be honest i think my only habit is i don't have a single one.  It takes a lot of effort for me to even remember and make time to shower, let alone clean the house with any reasonable schedule or eat at a proper time. I guess absentmindedness is my habit.  And when something fantastic comes around like it has this week, goodbye productive life.  I get so obsessed with things that aren't real that I can't even try to worry about the things that are..
That thing has been Sherlock.  Thank goodness there's only been a few seasons so far, but you can be sure i've watched all three in a matter of days.  And because of that I had to spend over two hours just now cleaning my tiny apartment of what's been building up since i've started the show.  It's that good.  Help.