Chickpea Crockpot Pie with Biscuit Topping

Just made a new vegan recipe today in the crockpot.  It turned out very nicely, although my prep time took a good bit longer than the 10 minutes noted in the recipe!!  New recipes always take longer to make, as I keep re-reading the ingredients and directions to make sure I'm not missing anything.  Still, that doesn't stop me from making some often-times disastrous mistakes!

If you are interested, here is the link to the recipe:  Chickpea Crockpot Pie with Biscuit Topping.  I changed a few things, as usual - no celery (Fred is not a fan), and subbed frozen corn for the green peas.  Probably could have added frozen green beans, but I didn't have any.  Oh, well.

Banned Book Week September 22-28

September 22-28 is the American Library Association's Annual Banned Book week.  Join me and others in challenging our immensely important right to intellectual freedom to read what we choose to read.

To quote the ALA website:   "The American Library Association promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them."

So, what are some titles that have been banned or challenged at one time or another?  How about:

Here are some lists to help you choose your next "banned" book to read:

100 Most Frequently Challenged Books 1990-1999

100 Most Frequently Challenged Books 2000-2009

According to my reading records, I have read 30 books from the Banned Book Lists.  I would have to say there was only one title I could not finish - "Naked Lunch".   Also, of these books, there were only seven that I rated below a "4" on a scale of 1-5, with a rating of  "5" meaning "It was amazing!".  

Happy Reading!!

Recent New Recipes

This past week I tried several new recipes.  Some were keepers, some were not so hot, or were not worth the long preparation time.

The non-keeper of the week was for Red Quinoa and Sweet Potato Croquettes.  I had made another flop of a recipe with red quinoa previously, and had frozen the leftover quinoa, so I thought this would be a great way to use the leftovers.  Well, these little "burgers" were lacking in flavor, and took WAY too long to prepare, even though my quinoa was already cooked.

The first keeper recipe was Polenta and Beans from FitSugar.

This was very tasty, even though my polenta rounds didn't get as crispy as these in the author's picture. I really liked that this recipe came together very quickly.

The second keeper recipe was a conglomeration of several recipes for Spanakoritzo - Greek Spinach with Rice.  My recipe was closest to the one on this website:  White Hot Oven.  The changes I made were that I used white basmati rice instead of long grain white rice; added a green onion, chopped, added 1/2 tsp dried dill weed, and used a 5.6 oz package of organic baby spinach; did not use any lemon juice. This was delicious!  If you wanted to lower the carb content, you could use half as much rice as called for.  

The last new recipe was for Key Lime Ice "Cream" from this website:  Laura's Gluten Free Pantry.  As usual, I made a few changes - for one of the cans of coconut milk, I used Lite Coconut Milk.  Since I couldn't find Key Limes, I used 2 large regular limes.  Now, Fred didn't like this as much as I did - only because he's not a fan of tart things.  I thought it was fabulous!

September is National Yoga Month

The month of September is National Yoga Month!  Yah!!!  If you've never tried yoga, maybe this is the month for you.

Yoga has become very popular in Northwest Arkansas, and I'm happy to be a part of this movement.  It has now been about a year since I first tried yoga, and was hooked immediately.  So much so, that I started taking classes towards my Yoga Alliance 200-Hr RYT designation.  After becoming "certified" in Yoga and Indoor Cycling through Fitour, I chose YogaFit as my training source for continued yoga study.  YogaFit allows me to spread my training out over time, which allows me to practice what I learn at each training, building proficiency, and not forcing my body to do things that, at age 53, may be more challenging than to a 20-something body.  Another benefit of taking longer to achieve the 200-Hr designation is I can spread out the cost of training.  Since starting with YogaFit in January 2013, I have now completed four of the eleven classes required for the 200-Hr RYT designation.

If you are looking to try yoga, the Bella Vista POA offers classes at Branchwood, Riordan Hall, and Metfield (beginning Sept 10!).  You can go to the Bella Vista POA website under "Recreation", then click on the clubhouse you are interested in to find classes and times.   There are also a number of studios and gyms in Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and Fayetteville where you can practice yoga.

One can always practice at home too!  The beauty of home practice is you choose the time.  There a tons of free yoga classes on the Internet and on YouTube in particular.  One of my favorites on YouTube is  Dr. Melissa West.  She has beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes and all kinds in between.  A neat iPhone app I found is Yogify.  This app has several free classes, and you can choose to buy more at a reasonable cost.

Bottom line, the key to maintaining a regular practice is finding a time, a location, a price, and a style that you enjoy.

Peace and Namaste'
Carrie

Comfort Food...

In our household, our favorite comfort food is pasta.  Not just any pasta, but Pozza's Pasta.

Growing up in Springdale, Arkansas, near the Italian community of Tontitown, I learned at an early age that the only good pasta is homemade, thin, egg noodle pasta.  I'm not even sure that I ever tasted that semolina "crap" until I was grown and moved away to some place that didn't have Pozza's Pasta.  I love this stuff so much, that when we lived in Massachusetts, I ordered a case at a time shipped to my home!

Of course, you can cook your noodles and serve them up covered in a delicious marinara sauce, but on an evening when you're tired, and just want some comfort food, this is how I serve it up.

Boil your noodles until they are soft, but not mushy.  Drain the water, but keep the noodles in your hot boiling pan, but not on the stove top.  Add a good dollop of the butter of your choice (we like Earth Balance), then add a good bit of grated Parmesan cheese and stir until the butter is all melted.  Sprinkle with some garlic salt, stir.  Then divide it up onto plates, and sprinkle dried parsley on top (mostly for decoration!).  Yum, yum  -  comfort food!

Do you listen to audiobooks?

Recently CBS aired an item about the "new" popularity of audiobooks in the literary industry.  Here is an older episode they aired:   Audiobooks Give New Life to Literature.   The one thing they failed to mention was the ability to borrow and download audiobooks FREE of charge from public libraries.

Personally, I have been listening to audiobooks for at least 13 years, maybe longer.  When I first started listening to audiobooks, it was by cassette tape.  Remember those? Almost always I would borrow them from my local library.  Once in a while I would purchase audiobooks, but they were generally more expensive than the hardcopy book.  Then along came audio CD's and MP3's, and my favorite of all time - downloadable audiobooks - a FREE service from my local library.

If you want to try downloadable audiobooks, just go to the website of your local library, for instance, Bentonville Library.  Then click on the tab Downloadables, then choose Library2Go, 

and begin your search for reading material.  You will need a current library card number and PIN # to log in and download your book.  If you don't have a card, your library's website will guide you how to get one.

Several people have told me that they "just can't listen to audiobooks because they put me to sleep".  This can be a problem that, in my opinion, is directly related to the voice of the narrator.  A good narrator can lead me to listen to a book that ordinarily I might not have read in print.  A good example is Charlaine Harris's  Sookie Stackhouse series.  I may never have chosen to read this series if I had started with the print version.  The audiobook, however, read by the very entertaining Johanna Parker hooked me immediately with her quirky, southern drawl.

In my search for entertaining audiobook narrators, I have come across several websites that allow you to listen to snippets of each narrators' reading style.  The following sites are a good resource for this purpose:  AudioFile Magazine,  Tantor Audio Audiobooks, and Audiobooks by Reader.  The Library2Go website also allows you to listen to a sample of your selection before downloading.

There are many ways to listen to audiobooks.  My favorite device is my iPhone.   (It is ridiculously easy to download audiobooks from the library to your iPhone.)  My husband bought me a wireless Bluetooth  device that works great for listening since there are no pesky wires, and I can easily answer any incoming phone calls with the push of button, pausing my audiobook.  So -  I can clean house, work in the yard, or cook while listening to a book!  Multi-tasking!!   I also listen this way while driving - which is much safer than earplugs, as I have one ear open to traffic, and it's totally hands free.  

Have I convinced you to try audiobooks?????

New Yoga Class For Active Adults Starting

Breaking News!   Beginning September 10, I will begin teaching a new class: Yoga For Active Adults, from 4 to 5 pm each Tuesday and Thursday at Bella Vista Village's Metfield Clubhouse, 3 Euston Road.

The class will offer a flowing style of Hatha Yoga that helps create core strength and increase flexibility and balance.  Poses flow one into the other linked with the breath. Suitable for students of all levels and experience.

Students should bring a yoga mat.  Other optional accessories are a yoga strap, yoga block, and a blanket or cushion.

The cost is $3 per class or $25 for 10 classes when a punch card is purchased. Class participants, without a photo identification card issued by the Property Owners Association, will be required to pay the Metfield facility fee of $2.25 per class.
For more information, or to register, call 855-8165.

Homemade Ice "Cream"

Growing up, we had a tradition that on each of our birthdays, we would have cake (usually Betty Crocker) and homemade ice cream.  Our ice cream recipe made the MOST DELICIOUS ice cream.   In actuality it was closer to ice milk than ice cream, as it had no eggs in it.  

Since adopting a vegan/vegetarian eating plan, I have adapted my Mom's recipe to be vegan.  It tastes pretty darn good, especially with chocolate syrup and chopped peanuts on top.  (Fred would disagree on this count!)  

Here's my recipe for 

Cuisinart Dairy-Free Ice Cream:

3 cups non-dairy drink (soy, almond, rice, or hemp milk)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup organic evaporated cane sugar

Today I used 1 1/2 cups West Soy Organic Unsweetened Soy Milk and 1 1/2 cups Rice Dream Rice Milk.

Mix all ingredients, stirring until sugar is dissolved. It you're not ready to freeze this, store in the refrigerator until you're ready to turn on the Cuisinart.

  

After about 30 minutes or so, the mixture should be frozen. Transfer your ice cream to a freezer-safe container and place in the freezer immediately if you want a harder ice cream.

This ice cream freezes pretty hard in the freezer section of your refrigerator.

Enjoy!!

Jalapeno, Bell Pepper, and Bean Salad

My husband found another tasty looking recipe for us to try on Facebook.  I adapted the recipe a bit to suit our taste buds.  The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of sugar in the dressing, which involved cooking the dressing in a pan on the stove top until the sugar dissolved.  Why add more empty calories and one extra step to the preparation, when it tastes quite fine without the sugar?


Jalapeno, Bell Pepper and Bean Salad

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 can sweet corn, drained and rinsed
1 jalapenos, minced
1 red onion, diced (optional, I will leave this out next time)
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup organic canola oil
1 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup organic apple cider vinegar

Mix all ingredients together and let sit in fridge several hours or overnight.  One serving is equal to about one cup.  Makes about 8 cups.

Jalapeno, Bell Pepper, and Bean Salad

Makes a HUGE bowl!

Look at all those veggies!

Very Chocolatey Brownies

In honor of Caitlyn, who is leaving the Library and moving far, far away, on Wednesday I baked my first recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (which Caitlyn gave me).  A copy of this book is available through the Washington County Library System or Carrie's personal library :-).

Holy moly!  These are VERRRRRY Chocolatey Brownies!  Delicious, if you love chocolate.  My husbands' response to tasting them was "Yuck, these taste like you dumped a can of cocoa in them."  He's not so far from the truth, as they call for 3/4 of a cup of cocoa!

This is a definite repeat recipe, although I have not calculated the nutrition facts yet - that may make them a once-in-a-while treat.  The good thing about them, is they are oil-free, egg-free, and dairy-free!  Yes!  But not sugar-free!

With a little coconut ice cream...