Snuggles & New Recipes

 

Aww!

The cats have been extra fun this week.

This morning, Stephen insisted on a long session of playing fetch!

Peek-a-boo!

Early in the week, it was very hot.

Today it's just 104 or so.

Look at sweet Stephen's long leggedies!

To keep my brain active and alert, I decided to start learning Chinese.

There's a great app I've been using called Chinese Smart, and it's surprising how quickly those strange pictograms start turning into meaningful words and sentences.

I love how learning a new language actually changes how I think!

Chinese is VERY cool and interesting.

I also have been trying new things in the kitchen because

I'm doing an experiment not eating animal products.

Greg and I tried this frozen dessert the other night and we liked it;

in fact, I'm craving some right now!

Put all ingredients in the food processor and BLEND until it's smooth and creamy.

Add chocolate chips!

Yum yum yum

The recipe made enough for four servings - maybe more if we hadn't eaten quite as much.

Ha!

Last night I tried my Mom's Spanish Rice recipe - omitting the meat.

It's a simple recipe.

Beans, tomatoes, and rice.

It looks like this at first.

I used Edun organic beans.

Not only is the can BPA-free (BPA is an endocrine disrupting chemical that has been linked to all sorts of reproductive disorders), but the beans have kombu seaweed added, which tends to make beans more easily digestible.   Hooray!

Bisphenol-A free!

I used Simply Balanced organic tomatoes (from Target).

Also BPA-free!

And I used Lundberg Arborio rice.

This is the best rice I've ever eaten.  It's creamy and luscious.  It's almost like pudding and extra fluffy.

After it's all cooked for awhile, it looks like this.

Mine is yellow because I added some turmeric and cumin.

With a large batch like this, I should have added more of both.

I had LOTS of leftovers!

Which are all now labeled and frozen (in BPA-free containers)

for lunches or dinners.

UPDATE:

The beans didn't freeze very well, and when I got leftovers out of the freezer,

they were all mealy and yucky.  Sad!

Juvy laid down on my meal planning equipment.

This box of books and DVDs remains behind a chair in the great room,

and Allistair has adopted it as his throne.

While I was cooking the rice & beans, a storm blew in.

It rained quite heavily for a few minutes about four times.

Allistair watched the rain from the safe dryness of my office.

Juvy watched from inside.

Yesterday morning there was thunder and lightning, and she ran in and hid under the bed, where she slept until 2 PM.

Our little cactus garden always gets a bit flooded, but the soil is sandy, so it drains quickly,

and this is exactly the sort of watering that these plants prefer.

I hope you had some good food and some refreshing rain in your weekend!