Breakfast for Dinner

Sometimes at the end of the day when I come home after working out and I'm trying to decide what to make for dinner I like to try something a little different.  So this week I made breakfast for dinner.  Why not?

I toasted a piece of sprouted wheat bread and put a little bit of coconut oil on it.  Fried up an egg and served myself a big scoop of fresh fruit (pineapple, papaya, strawberries and basil).  Yes, basil... my favorite herb of the month!  I've been adding it to lots of things these days.  

What are you having for dinner?

Happy Mother's Day!

I can never thank my Mom enough for being the best Mom ever!  I admire her strength and courage to go to a foreign country far away from all her family and friends and raise and teach five kids.  (And this was well before all the modern technology that we take so much for granted today!)  There was no "Skyping" with grandparents.  They wrote letters that would take weeks and sometimes months to arrive.  There was no Google or internet to look something up.  There were no cell phones, iPods, CD's or microwaves that most of us use without a second thought.

But there was time.  Time to learn and do school together. Time to watch my mom cook meals from scratch everyday. Time to sit down at the table and eat together at every meal.  There were good times and bad times but I could always count on my Mom being there.

So, today I say "Thank You, Mom!"

Thank you for loving me.  (Even though I was a crier!)

Thank you for teaching me about Jesus.

Thank you for teaching me how to read.

Thank you for getting the nasty bug out of my eye.  (I still remember that day!)

Thank you for all the time you spent with us.

I love you!

Got Guac? {My Recipe}

What do you do when you have a bunch of avocados ripening all at once?  Make some guacamole of course!

So here is how I put it all together.  Gather you cast of characters and start by chopping up the green onion.

Peel, pit and chop the avocados.  Add the lime juice.  (Tip:  Save one of the avocado pits and place it in the guac when you are done.  It will help it not turn as quickly)

Grab a bunch of cilantro and chop that up too.

Add the pico de gallo chili powder, some garlic powder and salt to taste.  (Sorry about the blurry pics.  It was late at night and the light in the kitchen wasn't the best.)

Mix it all together... grab some chips... and DIG IN!

Ruth's Guacamole (makes about 6 cups)

8 - 9 large ripe Avocados, pitted and chopped (save one of the pits)
5 stalks Green Onion, chopped
Juice of 2 Large Limes
1 cup Cilantro, chopped
1 tsp Pico de Gallo Chili Powder
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder

Chop and mix all ingredients together.  Adjust seasoning to your taste.  Enjoy!

A new found love called Basil

I have a new found love called Basil.  No, not this Basil although he does look quite handsome and debonair doesn't he?.

My basil, is fresh, fragrant and tastes delicious!  I know, you are probably saying what's so new and exciting about basil?  I used to think the same thing and my dates with basil consisted mainly of marinera sauce and pasta or pesto.  So the last week as I was chopping up some fresh strawberries I looked over at basil and and though "why not?".  I picked off a few leaves and tore them into bits and added them right in to the strawberries.

Wow!  This is truly a pairing made in heaven.  The flavors complement and enhance each other in a most delicious way.  The I began to think about how else I could use the fresh basil leaves.  Here are a couple ideas I found were also quite delicious.  Add some fresh basil leaves to toasted sprouted wheat bread with some coconut or olive oil drizzled on top.  So yummy!  And for breakfast put bits of basil leaves on your fried egg over toast. Mmmm!

I was curious if there were any unusual basil recipes out there and I found a few that I must try sometime soon.

The Pioneer Woman's newest cookbook Food From My Frontier has a Peach-Basil Ice Cream Topping recipe that sounds simply amazing.  You can also use fresh basil to make herbal sugar.  This sounds delicious for baking.

On the Farmer's Nest blog there is this recipe for Sweet Basil Fruit Dip.

How do you use basil?  Have any recipes or ideas to share?  Love to hear about them!

Taste the Rainbow

I don't know about you but I'm still trying to get rid of some of my winter/holiday pounds that snuck up on me and are clinging on for dear life.  If only they would cooperate and go quietly away from whence they came! 
So in an effort to give them the boot and tell them to get lost here is what my lunch looks like for the week.  I call it my "Rainbow Salad"  because it is so colorful and tastes great.  This week I opted for a combination of butter lettuce and wild rocket for the leaves.  Add in some purple shredded cabbage, orange shredded carrots, red bell pepper, white and red radishes, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, green avocado with a dash of chili powder.  My favorite dressing is 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp dried basil, dash of sea salt.  Combine all ingredients and enjoy!

     

After the rain...

When the cold, dreary, gray skies start to clear 

a wonderful sight begins to appear.

Like the soft touch of your hand wiping away my tears

along comes the sun and soon the sky clears.

What is left is a beautiful sight to behold.  

Snow covered mountains dressed all white in the cold.

The garden is blooming with colors untold.

Roses and flowers adorned in pink, red and gold.

And again, like the soft touch of your kiss on my skin
The sun warms my heart and tells spring to begin.

~ RL

Sometimes it's a long lonely road I travel

"O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be."
~ George Matheson, 1882

Happy Birthday Margie!

Happy birthday to you... happy birthday to you...

Today is my sweet niece's eighth birthday.  It just seems like yesterday that I was meeting this cutie pie for the first time.  To celebrate I put together this collage of the many faces of Margie.
Love you!  Auntie Ruth

P.S. Photo collages are super fun and easy to make with Picasa :)

Homemade Mac 'n Cheese

This week I was signed up to bring a meal for a friend and her family.  So I decided to try The Pioneer Woman's recipe for macaroni and cheese.  I figured it should be a hit with the kids, right?  

So I gathered the cast of characters.  These are the usual suspects...most likely you will find most of them hanging around your pantry and fridge.  Nothing too out of the ordinary but when you put them together that's when the magic happens!

Oops!  These two were camera shy and didn't make it into the "group shot" :)

   You can find Ree's step by step directions here.  I used whole wheat penne instead of regular macaroni just because that's what I had in my pantry.  Hope you give it a try sometime.  It's an easy recipe that delivers lots of great taste!

My lunch date

I had a lunch date today!  Lena and Charis (and Kim) joined me for a beautiful al fresco lunch by the fountain.  It was so good to see the girls and to catch up with Kim.

Looking forward to more of these.   

Lena was eating peanut butter and jelly "scrolls"

Charis was just hanging out in her stroller taking it all in

Grateful for all the friends in my life... big and small!