Zucchini Bean Burrito (Vegan)

This was YUMMY! It could serve as a side dish or dip for those eating meat.....filled me up completely...though I did ad some leftover rice to mine. This is a Dr. Fuhrman recipe.

Serves: 6

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

 

Ingredients:

1 red onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 green pablano chile, seeded and thinly sliced

1 medium tomato chopped

2 cups zucchini, chopped

3 cups cooked pinto beans or 2 (15 ounce) cans (I used black beans)

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

6 large whole grain tortillas

3 cups shredded romaine lettuce or mixed greens

1 ripe avocado, sliced

1 cup salsa, low sodium or no salt added

Instructions:
Heat 1/8 cup water in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic and chile and water saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add tomato and zucchini, continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes or until zucchini is soft. Add beans, chili powder and cumin, stir to combine and cook for 10 minutes.

Using a potato masher or back of a spoon, thoroughly mash beans. Stir in cilantro.

Spread beans on tortillas, top with lettuce, avocado and salsa and roll up.

Beans may also be served as a side dish or dip.

Per Serving:

CALORIES 361; PROTEIN 18g; CARBOHYDRATES 73g; TOTAL FAT 10.7g; SATURATED FAT 2.1g; SODIUM 126mg; FIBER 14.6g; BETA-CAROTENE 1603ug; VITAMIN C 77mg; CALCIUM 109mg; IRON 5.6mg; FOLATE 326ug; MAGNESIUM 94mg; ZINC 1.9mg; SELENIUM 22.8ug

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Cracker Barrel Copy Cat Hash Brown Casserole

I made a double recipe of this for the Chapel's Fellowship today and it was all gone but one spoonful - which someone scooped out and took home. I assume it's good.  Actually, I was told by many it IS good and several asked for the recipe.  If I can figure out how to veganize it I'll be happy. :::snort::  I'm putting the recipe here before I forget how I did it. LOL 

Ingredients
2 lbs frozen hash browns
1/2 C butter
1 can (101/4 oz) cream of chicken soup*
1 pint sour cream
1 onion, chopped
2 C grated cheese (save out 1/2 c)
1/2 tsp salt (more if you need)
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. **

Spray a  9 x 13 pan.

Mix ingredients accept for the 1/2 C saved cheese. Put in greased pan. Sprinkle 1/2 C cheese on top.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until golden brown.

* You could make your own white sauce/cream of soup and skip the can of soup.

** I cooked in crock pot...high for a couple of hours and low until time to serve.  I've been told you could cook on low overnight and have it ready to go in the a.m.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Geocaching in CA

After I finished soaking my teeth in whitening gel....and Michael got up...we decided to  hunt for geocaches. They were all  along Feather River; we had great hopes of finding a river. 

This reminds me of our trip to Ferry Falls/Beale Falls - a choice must be made - but who is right? LOL 

We followed Nolan and his GPS. This is the point when I refused to go further....I know there are snakes in these parts. No trinket in a water soaked band-aide container is worth meeting a snake on its home turf.  Michael agreed we should think about a snake kit if we are going to do much more of this. 

This was rather empty when we found it - so we filled it up. Note our wooden family coin - bottom middle - I need to remember where to order more. 

Arielle spent most of the day clapping her hands - she is sure that keeps snakes away. 

Arielle and I refused to crawl in to this one - Stacia isn't afraid of snakes. 

Michael preached a few months ago and mentioned perspectives...."A wonderful hike in nature" vs my view of some of his  "Forced marches." He shared going to the mall which HE considerst a "Forced March" and I consider a wonderful hike through nature. ::snort::  At this point....still no river...looks a lot like a desert to me....I couldn't resist, "Hey, Michael, this looks like trudging through the desert to ME." The kids helpfully began to sing Veggie Tale songs about wandering in the desert. He told us it was a really, "A wonderful opportunity to take a hike in nature and enjoy the possibility of seeing wildlife."  Perspective. It'll preach. ::snort::  We had fun...we did see a snake and two jack rabbits...

With guides and GPS' like this you can see why we have so many adventures. LOVE Nolan's eyes. 

WE FOUND A RIVER!!!!!!

Stacia was the only one with enough faith to bring a suit....

We also discovered a totally NEW area of Yuba City. There are some very nice neighborhoods in Yuba City. I wonder why everyone told us NOT to live in Yuba City or Marysville. Maybe they've only driven from base to Sam's. We found Shanghai Park - we will go back to - and a nice bike trail. If Stacia has her way we'll go find waters most afternoons. I understand, and while most the state is in school, this is a fairly sound plan. Things shouldn't be too crowded.

The shortest  mountain range in the world is behind those houses - or so we've been told. You can see the whole thing right there. Two of them are over 2000 feet tall which make them official mountains. 

The kids take turns choosing where we'll eat on Sunday. It has been Stacia's turn. Last week was Mother's Day and I wanted to grill at home. Tomorrow is a Chapel Fellowship - read potluck. We were all hot and tired and looking for an Air Conditioner....so we let Stacia pick our "dunch" location at around 3:00 p.m. She chose Chipotles....and discovered she really wanted to go to Mi Pubeletos....but now she knows.

Arielle got in driving time.

We got home around 4:00 and Michael has been finishing a sermon. I began baking for tomorrow. I've made a coffee cake and two dozen muffins. I'll make some hash brown casseroles and put them in the crock pot in the a.m.  I've toyed with finding a good tasting vegan hash brown casserole because I do miss them....but honestly haven't had time to do more than think about it. ::grin::  I'm taking toppings for the waffle bar as well - all this sugar in one place could give me a coma....strawberries, whipped cream, blackberry, boysenberry, maple and some other kind of syrups, peanut butter, butter, chocolate butter.....honey....It's going to be hard to be disciplined. ::wink::

I'm going to finish the night watching a movie with Stacia.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Teeth Whitening

The dentist in Misawa said he didn't need to polish my teeth as they weren't stained. The dentist here said the first thing he noticed about me was my "beautiful smile, but it is yellow." Well....now.... He wanted $500 for a super duper blaster whitening and then the bleach things every few months. This would be a life time service...except he knows I'm military and I won't be here for more than 2 treatments. ::snort::  He said home remedies won't work to the degree I need. I asked how much it would be to buy the trays from him and just fill them with bleach at home. He seriously told me that common bleach was not the same thing. ::snort:: 

I had noticed a couple of teeth  were yellowing and it was bothering me....but I'd never thought of doing anything about it....and at $500 I'm not likely to think of it much.  Of course, NOW I notice my whole family has yellow teeth - and many of YOU too - so I really think that this fixation of dentists in our local area for white teeth has to do with our proximity to Hollywood. ::snort:: 

Facebook friends shared all sorts of remedies. 


I tried oil pulling and gagged for hours afterwards. I still gag if I think of it. In fact, I've not been able to face coconut oil since that fateful morning. Google it if you've not heard of it - I really can't think about it much longer. I'm gagging. 

One friend noted we have the color teeth God wants us to have. I love the sentiment...except I note many change their hair color, shave their legs  - you know. I don't feel particularly vain if I want whiter teeth.

I brushed and swished with hydrogen peroxide and water. The first day I got too much and my mouth foamed "forever." The next few days were better...until I just couldn't face it another day....just couldn't. Not as bad as oil pulling but still kicked in the gag reflex. 

Finally I bought some Aqua fresh gel trays - just like the dentist uses. ::snort:: 

Day 1 and 2  - ugh....I CAN HANDLE THIS....but it's uncomfortable, the trays don't reach the top of my teeth are only half my teeth going to be white? I really don't like the gel taste....

Day 3 - I happened to have my glasses on and read the package as I opened today's trays...oh - there are  top and bottom trays. Who knew? And when you put them in right they DO cover all my top teeth...and they close so that the gel doesn't get all over your tongue and go down your throat..... I sat in the hot tub for 45 minutes and thought about a happy place. I'm training myself for upcoming dental work. I practiced breathing through my nose and not compulsively swallowing. 

No, I don't see any improvement but then I didn't do it right the first two days and I think I swallowed most the gel by the end of 45 minutes. Ugh.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Family Fun Night

Lots going on around here - no need to blog it all - just trust me that the pace is a bit crazier than we plan to maintain long term. ::snort::  It's also been an emotional week with parish events. 

In any event, we were ALL, looking forward to Friday Family Night. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner....and then went outside and chatted... these two invented this game.....suck water up the noodles and shoot it at each other....

...while these two chatted and practiced the Rubik...

...Then these two invented a game where one asks a question and if the answer is wrong you get doused...the yard is browning up and so we figured playing with the water wasn't much different than turning the sprinkler on - just in case any CA water Nazis are about to turn us in. 

She ASKED for this! 

Stacia jumped into the hot tub after this. We continued chatting. It was too windy to light the fire ring to make s'mores so Michael suggested I make "indoor s'mores" - I did and surprised the kids.  Yep - "this summer we are living life fully one s'more at a time."  I don't often have them but had 1/2.....

This girl has persistent asking down (Luke 18?)....but we've been trying to teach her to NOT ASK and let her parents just bless her sometimes too....she can trust her parents to bless her. It was great that she'd forgotten to ask today for s'mores - it's a daily request. She was thrilled. 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

So Barrio ::snort::

If you grew up in the south you had "rednecks."  If you grew up in the city you might speak of being "ghetto."  I grew up in Liberia, West Africa and a barrio in Mindanao, Philippine Islands.  While at school in Manila, if anyone did something which was "redneck or ghetto" we'd say, "That's so barrio." 

I displayed my inner barrio today when my dollar store flip flops irritated me.  THIS is the problem with shoes and socks that are size 5 - 9. I hate it. My socks are always bunchy and I kept tripping with these extra long shoes. 

I took a knife and fixed the problem. My family thought it was barrio and don't believe I'll wear them this way. I will. I'm not going to waste my dollar. 

The moment I remembered I'd taken all the seats out of the van to haul VBS stuff....slight delay. 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

The Challenge Continues

Arielle seems to be the only one diligently working on Michael's new challenge to the kids. The challenge is to get all sides of the Rubik Cube matched in 2 minutes.

Stacia timed her earlier in the day and was sure she did it in 2 minutes. Arielle was sure it was more "like 3 minutes."  Michael suggested she do it and he'd time and see where she is....

Such concentration 

Arielle was right - she's got it in just under three minutes. Soon.....soon she'll win unless those others get hopping. LOL


Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...