Adzuki Beans with Mango Pineapple Salsa and Crispy Onions

This was seriously fantastic!
I purchased my beans from Dixie Nutrition (bulk bins). Rinse 2 cups of beans, place beans in a crockpot, cover the beans with about 1" of water, add a couple tablespoons of "Better than Boulion" (vegetable flavor), and cook for about 5 or 6 hours or until tender. When you are ready to serve beans, just top with a desired amount of mango pineapple salsa
(I used Walmart brand), and crispy onions. Enjoy!
Now you owe me one too "Reign of Terror"!

Honey Whole Wheat Pizza

My littlest one helped me grind wheat and make the dough for tonight's dinner. She thought she was sooo big helping mommy. Those moments I have missed out on for a few years, and that makes me sad for my kids in the middle. We used the dough to make whole wheat pizzas. Everybody rolled out their own dough and topped it the way they liked. I used spinach, kalamata olives, capers, roasted red peppers, pinenuts, and a little feta cheese.

The leftover dough was used to make a couple loaves of bread that we used for french toast the following morning. I think that was the highlight of the kids week.

Breakfast

I cannot believe how many people are telling me that they are having the same thoughts about diet and are making similar changes. It is exciting to see so many people learning together, comparing notes and meal plants, and encouraging each other. Thanks everyone!

Breakfast yesterday was smoothies, bean cakes w/cilantro lime tomatillo salsa, and oatmeal. I thought it was delicious. The kids only liked the smoothies and oatmeal. They were afraid of words "beans"and "cake" used together.

New Diet Revealed

We have turned over a new leaf. Paul and I have decided that we really needed to take stock of what we are putting into our bodies. We recently read The China Study and Healthy at 100. Both of these books opened our eyes to many nutrition myths and the connection between diet and disease. We like to call it the "Word of Wisdom/Vegan but not Nutty/Whole Foods Diet". Paul has cut out all processed foods, but I am not ready for that just yet (I enjoy the occasional cupcake from 25 Main too much).

We started at the first part of December 2008. It has been a lot of work, but really feels good. I now actually make breakfast every morning and dinner every night. This may sound easy to some of you, but I only cooked dinner a couple nights a week before this and never breakfast. I don't know why I never got "Mother of the Year".

The kids absolutely hate this! They are slowly starting to come around to our way of thinking. Hunger has a way of doing that to a person. There have been some really great
meals, and some that were real "stinkers". Making the menu for the week and doing the grocery shopping are challenging and time consuming. It is difficult to find meals that have a good chance of appealing to all my picky eaters.

A good friend of mine requested that I start blogging about our journey. She wanted to know what we are eating and how we are managing to stay alive and nourished.

J, this is for you....you owe me!

Tonight we had Miso soup with noodles, terryaki tofu, mushrooms, carrots, spinach, cabbage, cilantro, ginger, scallions, and garlic. To satisfy the sweet tooth, I made whole wheat, banana, oatmeal, applesauce, teff, and honey cookies. I thought both were delish. The kids loved the cookies. I couldn't keep them out of the dough.

**Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
1 1/2 bananas, 1/2 cup applesauce, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 cup honey, 1 cup whole wheat flour (scant), 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 dash salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 dash nutmeg, 1 tbl. whole teff (optional), 3/4 cup oatmeal, 2 tablespoons raisins (optional).

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Blend in blender until creamy the banana, applesauce, vanilla and sugar. Sift together the dry ingredients. Mix dry and wet. Stir in oatmeal (the regular cereal type) and raisins. Drop by generous spoonfuls onto cooking-sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 350ºF for 20-30 min or until just browning. (without the oil they take longer to bake than you think!... check them though after 15 min to see how they are doing).

Look at that Form

Is there anything this girl can't do? This is her 1st game ever, and she scored 16 points. She was on top of the world.

A Rainy Day in the Desert

Family...Good Times