Happy Birthday Rosie!

Rosie celebrated her 14th birthday yesterday with a cake from Whole Foods.

Baba Yega

Some pictures from our dinner last night.  We shared the Green Pizza with Salad, the vegan Hippie Meatloaf with vegan mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach, and then for dessert,  the 3 layer chocolate mousse cake. Cameron took these wonderful pictures.
 

Happy Halloween

Brad's Raw Foods

I found these at Whole Foods and they are delicious.
The kale is coated with red bell pepper, cashews, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, chickpea miso, and Himalayan sea salt, and is dehydrated below 115 degrees.

Orange and Mushroom Noodles with Kale

I made this Saturday night.  Cameron and I both enjoyed it.  I had never heard of Shiritake noodles before this but found them at Whole foods and will definitely use them again. My Chinese friend found the vegetarian oyster sauce for me at a Chinese grocery store. Of course you can always use regular oyster sauce if you aren't vegetarian. The bitterness of the kale was a nice compliment to the sweetness of the sauce. This was an easy and delicious dish.



Ingredients:

1 bunch lacinato kale
2 cups sliced shitake mushrooms
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic sliced
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, plus the zest of one orange
1/4 cup vegetarian oyster sauce (aka mushroom sauce)
1 8 oz package Tofu Shirataki noodles

Directions:

Add a couple of teaspoons of neutral oil (I used sesame) to a large saute pan.  Add mushrooms and onions.  Saute until softened.  Remove the stems from the kale and tear into bite size pieces.  Add the kale and garlic to the onions and mushrooms and cook until the kale has wilted. (about 10 minutes)

In another small pan combine the orange juice, zest, and oyster sauce and bring to a slow simmer.  Allow to simmer and reduce slightly while the vegetables cook.

Rinse the noodles and boil for about 3 minutes in another pot.

Drain the noodles and combine with the vegetable and sauce.

Pictures by Cameron

I've made this dish several times and have started adding 2 packages of noodles. I also use a cheaper more common mushroom and I can't really tell the difference.

And For Dessert...

After eating our healthy kale and noodle dish we decided something a lot less healthy was in order so we went to Petite Sweets.

Picture by Cameron

Mathematical Masters

Congratulations to my daughter who successfully defended her thesis/project for her Master's degree in math yesterday. 

The James Turrell Skyspace

Cameron and went to see this a few weeks ago and it was absolutely amazing. I would like to go to the sunrise show sometime. Here is a description from the website:
"Constructed of grass, concrete, stone and composite steel, the structure is equipped with an LED light sequence that projects onto the ceiling and through an aperture in the 72-foot square knife-edge roof just before sunrise and at sunset. Turrell's composition of light compliments the natural light present at twilight, and transforms the skyspace into a locale for experiencing beauty and reflective interactions with the surrounding campus and the natural world"

Radical Eats

Here are a few pictures from my new favorite restaurant, Radical Eats. It started as a vegan restaurant in EaDo but moved to Montrose a few months ago and added non vegan items to the menu. Cameron photographs all of his food and took these beautiful pictures of the meal we shared.

Rosie

Cameron took this picture of Rosie. She looks sad but was really very happy her two favorite people were home.

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily is sitting on this little box next to my patio waiting for dinner to be served.

My Parent's Wedding

Here is a picture of my parents on their wedding day September 1, 1940 and a story my mother wrote about their journey to their new home in Boothville La..

My Grandkitties

Here are my daughter's 2 adorable cats Sammy and Tigerlily.

Quinoa with Black Beans

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups vegetable or "un-chicken" broth
1 cup black beans (15 oz can) drained, rinsed
1/2 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 small tomato
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 medium green onions chopped (1/4 cup)
1 T. fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 t. salt

Rinse quinoa and cook in broth 15-20 min.
Fluff quinoa and add remaining ingredients.

Makes 8 servings (1/2 cup each)
260 calories
3g fat
12g protein
5g sugars
45g total carbhoydrate
740mg sodium


I'm trying to find quinoa recipes that are easy and don't have a long list of ingredients. This one qualifies and was pretty good. Not as good as the one I made last week but still pretty satisfying. When I make it again I will use regular water for the quinoa. I don't think the broth added all that much to the flavor but it did add a lot of sodium. I would also add more tomato, maybe a cup or so of cherry tomatoes halved and some chopped red bell pepper.

Sleeping Pug

Rosie

Can you find the fake pug?

(pictures by Cameron)

Quinoa Veggie Salad

I found this recipe in a book I was cataloging on Thursday and decided to make it this weekend. It was wonderful. I shared it with my roomate who also loved it and took the picture. It makes 3 servings (for Cameron it would have been 1 serving) and has only 180 calories per serving, 3.5 grams of fat, and 7 grams of protein.

Quinoa Veggie Salad

3/4 c. uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 water
1 c. torn arugula
1/4 c. chopped roasted red bell peppers (from a jar)
1/4 c. halved red cherry tomatoes
1/4 c. chopped marinated artichokes
1 T. marinade from artichoke jar
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Cook Quinoa in water according to directions (be sure to rinse first). When the quinoa is cooked and cooled, mix with the remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.

Ginger

Ginger came into my life (and Sparky's) on June 12, 1998. I had her put down today. RIP sweet puppy.

Ginger

I found out last week that Ginger has congestive heart failure. She is on 2 medicines but will probably not live too much longer. She is 15 and has lived a good and long life. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her with Gracie, Sparky and Rosie. I decided to post this now because I know I will be too sad to do it after she is gone.

 Rosie absolutely adores her "brother" Cameron.

Dogs at Fondren

Once again, the therapy dogs are back at Fondren.