Friday, November 01, 2013

Thankful for FRIDAY


Michael gets a CTO off on the weeks when he preaches. He preached last Sunday. Today (Friday) was to be his day off.....so he came home early! I was proud of him for coming home early - then I found out the whole staff went home early to celebrate the end of the inspection. ::snort:: 

We took advantage of Michael being home to go scoop swamp water. Into my new "vintage" ball jars....with soil, straw, egg yolk...and swamp water. I'm sure wonderful new things will shortly be growing on the counters....on purpose. 


We searched out a "little branch" for this year's Thankful Tree....I'm not sure THIS is exactly the branch I will use. We'll work on it tomorrow. I'm printing leaves this year here . We've enjoyed past trees we made...all the leaves we cut out and each filled in...but this house really doesn't have a wall which we want to tape or staple leaves on.  And Ann's leaves are ready to go.....so I plan to make an arrangement with some "small" branches and hang the leaves on them.......

Honestly, we try too keep a thankful heart year round (thus Choosing Joy); but it is fun to list things out in the month of November.  Rather than leaves and/or journals, I  like the idea below this year. 
Via Facebook 
We left the river park and headed directly to Papa Murphys for a Chicago Style stuffed pizza and a Gourmet Veggie pizza - hold the cheese. ::snort:: The African Queen and Road to Bali is on our schedule for the evening.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

"Chick Pea" Tacos (Vegan)


We celebrated Michael's PT test with tacos (meat, cheese, and lots of it).  He was looking forward to this. I thought it would be an easy meal after the park. LOL  It's a good thing I've been cooking dried beans for the freezer.  As Nolan and I cooked, we discovered we had no Rosaritas. We like home-made better; but I'd gotten out of the habit of making them.   We whipped up some refried beans, started the rice steaming, started the taco meat simmering...and then I decided to try something new for Arielle and me. 

I didn't have chick peas, but I had pinto beans left....I used those and they were great. I have no idea if they would have been better with chick peas. This recipe is from The Happy Herbivore Cookbook - I LOVE this cookbook. 

Ingredients: 
1 T soy sauce (low sodium)
1 - 2 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 T chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne powder
1/4 tsp marjoram or oregano (I didn't use either)
1 15 oz can of chick peas drained and rinsed OR 1 1/2 C of cooked beans

Directions: 
Pre-heat oven to 400* F.

Grease cookie sheet - or line with parchment paper.

Whisk soy sauce, juice and spices together. Add beans or chickpeas and stir to combine.

Transfer to cookie sheet in a single layer.

Bake for 20 - 40 min until chick peas are as crisp as desired.

Spoon into taco shells and top with greens and tomatoes......

We do a Tijunga Taco here.....which will illustrate how essential the refried beans are to Taco night in our home.

Take heated tortilla, spread on refried beans, add a crunchy taco shell, add rice, greens, and taco fixins.....cover with salsa.... These little beans worked great in place of meat and I didn't miss the meat a bit...Michael said it reminded him of Chipotles.

I had thought of skipping the refried beans as we always have over 1/2 the can which doesn't get used....but they ate ALL the refried beans - all of them. I must keep making my own. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...