Buying Local Organic Veggies and kids snacks!

Happy friday!  I'm bummed we couldn't watch the meteor shower in the early hours of the morning, darn marine layer!  At least it's sunny now and the heat is going to start cranking up in these next few days. Bring it on, I'm ready. 

Below is a cute little fellow that I found  in our kitchen, no tail of course the cat,  a couple of days ago when we got home from a day of shopping.  These little lizards are everywhere right now.  So cute!

 At the end of my last post I showed this photo below, of these beautiful organic vegetables and asked how much you thought they cost. There are 6 cucumbers, 8 large zucchinis, 2 large heads of lettuce, 5 beets, 1 large sweet onion, 2 lemons, head of garlic, 1 small silverline melon and 1 bunch of parsley.

 The answer: $11.25!  We are pretty lucky to have so many farms near us.  These vegetables are from a cute Organic Farm Stand that is based on an honor system.  It's about 7 min.or so from our place.  You can walk across the road and pick your own strawberries if you wish.  Every item has a price written down above or below it.  They use a wine barrel with a slot on top to slide your money in and a small carafe to put your change in.  The cucumbers and zucchinis were 6  & 8 for a dollar.  They were sitting in a basket in the sun so they want them to be bought first.  They were all fresh, no mushy ones at all.  The heads of lettuce are huge and sell for $1.50 each.  It's the silverline melon that cost me the $2 but it smelled so good I had to try it.

I know people are always saying how organic is more money but there are costs from not buying organic or pesticide free.  The cost is your health.  Eating pesticides is not good for you.  Are you going to spray chemicals on your fruit and eat it or let your kids eat it? No.  Then what's the difference if someone else has for you?  They have done many studies to show that pesticides can't just be washed off and goes deeper into the food. There is a list you have probably seen regarding the the dirty dozen(most sprayed foods) and the clean 15(least sprayed with pesticides. If you can't buy all of your food organic at least buy those that are on the list below.  (you'll notice that alot of the conventional ones on the list that are safe to eat have skins that we peel off before we eat anyways.)
Buy Organic: Peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, pears, grapes(imported), spinach/kale/collard greens, lettuce, potatoes.
Okay to buy conventional: onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mango, sweet peas, asparagus, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, canteloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potatoes and sweet onions.

Why does organic cost more money in the first place? Here is a great paragraph I found athttp://ofrf.org/resources/organicfaqs.html describes it in detail for you.
"The cost of organic food is higher than that of conventional food because the organic price tag more closely reflects the true cost of growing the food: substituting labor and intensive management for chemicals, the health and environmental costs of which are borne by society. These costs include cleanup of polluted water and remediation of pesticide contamination. Prices for organic foods include costs of growing, harvesting, transportation and storage. In the case of processed foods, processing and packaging costs are also included. Organically produced foods must meet stricter regulations governing all these steps than conventional foods. The intensive management and labor used in organic production are frequently (though not always) more expensive than the chemicals routinely used on conventional farms. There is mounting evidence that if all the indirect costs of conventional food production were factored into the price of food, organic foods would cost the same, or, more likely, be cheaper than conventional food. Cost, however, is very dependent upon market venue and consumer product choice. It is possible to consume a moderately priced diet of organic foods by purchasing directly from farmers at venues such as farmers markets, and by choosing unprocessed organically grown foods at the grocery store."


Ways to buy organic/pesticide at a less costly price to you.
 1)One way to cut costs on your fruit and vegetables is to eat in season.  You will notice that they are always less money in season.  Have you tried buying bell peppers these past months?  They are quite expensive and most are from Mexico.  They are not in season but will be very soon.  Then you'll see the prices drop.ket.

2)Check out your local farm/Farmers Market.  There is no middle man when you buy your fruits and veggies this way.  It's from the farm to you! Some farms you can pick your own, which is even less money.  Also go to the Farmers Market when they are about to close.  They will make some great deals with you because they would rather not have to take as much back with them.  These tomatoes below I buy at our Farmers Market. 

These girls sell tomatoes and basil.  At the end of their stand is a $1 bin , for soft tomatoes,that they keep adding to it during the market.  I actually don't find very many soft tomatoes, but I don't tell them that. lol! The softer ones I use for my pasta sauce.   This bunch was only $2!  A great way to use tomatoes is to make lovely tomato bruschetta, which I did and the recipe is at end of blog. 

So if you want to buy local and eat pesticide free produce you can find the deals.  Also like the paragraph above said.  The more we buy organic the more the prices will come down.  Let's support our local farms!!!!!!

We also found a Strawberry/Rhubarb Pie(no dairy) at our Farmers Market. 

 

Down the street from us is Buttonwood Winery,their whites and pinks are vegan, during the summer they sale peaches.  These are some of the best peaches and they don't use pesticides.  Did you know that there are different varieties of peaches?  Not just white and yellow I mean varieties like apples?  I just found that out this year too.  Oh, can you smell them?  Yum.  

If you bring back the box that the peaches are in you will get 50cents off your next purchase.  My last purchase was for my in-laws and us and the cute little older man that works there gave me the mom discount.  I think he likes me. hee hee.  Hey whatever works right? 

Regarding some healthy kids snacks.  I usually have some cut up veggies and fruit sitting out on the kitchen counter for Keaton to grab.  Perks of summer, an abundance of fruit and cucumbers! (We love cucumbers). When his friends are over I'll put out a spread like this so they have a variety.  Sometimes I'll put out a hummus dip or something as well.  It's amazing how much growing boys can eat!  I find if you have good food out like this they will eat it.  If you let them into the pantry they will find that bag of chips or crackers, we rarely have chips, and they will eat that.  

Tomato bruschetta is so easy to make and cheap. The only thing I had to buy was the baguette.  If I had yeast on hand I would've made my own and it would have been even cheaper to make.  An appetizer like this at an Italian restaurant for 6 pieces try $8.  We got about 10 pieces costing about $2.20.  We still have left over baguette. 

Tomato Bruschetta

You can adjust according to taste and how many people you are going to serve this to.  

1 lb. fresh tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

2  garlic cloves, finely chopped

1T. Olive oil

5 basil leaves, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 baguette or less

olive oil

1 garlic clove

Finely chop tomatoes and put in a small bowl.  Add the garlic, basil and olive oil.  Add Salt to taste and a bit of fresh ground pepper.  Let sit so flavors can develop. 

When ready to use.  Heat oven to 400 or broil on low.

Slice bagutte into 1/2 inch or less, diagonal slices. Brush one side with olive oil and place the oiled slices down on baking sheet.  Put into oven until a light golden color.  If you are broiling  pay attention because they can burn quickly!  Once you take out of oven, rub a garlic clove over the oiled side of the baguette slice and top with tomato mixture.  Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

POM Wonderful Review

Good morning to you!  Hey I just realized this will be my second post within a weeks time. That must mean I'm getting back into the swing of things.  Slowly.....

My last post I wrote about my vegan journey and I loved reading all of your comments.  I think sharing our stories of how we have gotten to this point in our life really helps strengthen our decision to be vegan. It also help others to see that it is reachable.  I hope to continue reading your stories and many more who decide to make the change to a vegan lifestyle.

Below is my review of POM Wonderful juice.

I was more than happy to have the opportunity to try a case of  POM Wonderful.  

Growing up, my grandparents had a huge pomegranate tree in their backyard.  My mom would have us open the fruit up outside and eat them outside so there would be no mess in the house.  Yum!  So anyways, Keaton, Dave and I tried the juice out and we really liked it! Each bottle went a long way because we used it in our tea, added it to sparkling water, lemonade, or just added more water , since it's from %100 percent pomegranate juice concentrate. It has a full deep pomegranate taste, so adding extra water to it didn't dilute the taste too much. 

You can also reduce the juice down  and make a lovely syrup to pour over pancakes, non-dairy ice cream or even tofu! 

Pomegranates are LOADED with antioxidants!  The antioxidants in Pomegranates are higher than even red wine!  It's a superpower of antioxidants.

So with that being said here are some other great facts about POM Wonderful:

They are a California company up in the San Joaquin Valley

Wonderful is actually the name of the type of pomegranate they used(who knew there were different varieties?)

They use up every part of the fruit in some way

They manufacture their bottles right next to their filling plant=less transportation waste

They grow, harvest, process and ship their own pomegranates

They use a drip irrigation system=less water usage 

There you have it!  For those of us that live in California we have a local company that we can support.  For all of us that love pomegranates and want to have some available to us year round this is a great choice!

Next blog:

Do organic veggies really cost more?

 

How much do you think all of this cost?  There are 6 cucumbers, 8 large zucchinis, 2 large heads of lettuce, 5 beets, 1 large sweet onion, 2 lemons, head of garlic, 1 small silverline melon and 1 bunch of parsley.

Another year of being vegan and that much more happy!

Hello to everyone!  Woke up early this morning, so while Dave and Keaton were still sleeping,  I put on some coffee, turned on the t.v. and to my pleasant surprise, a good old classic movie was on to watch.  So there I lay cuddled in a blanket, overcast outside and the rest of the family lay in bed asleep.  I just felt good.

Now before I get a move on for the rest of the day, making a list, grocery shopping, etc., I want to celebrate with you another year of being vegan.  It's been 4 years now for me and 3 years for my 12 year old son.  We both couldn't be happier for this wonderful decision that we've made. 

(Lillies in August, aren't they pretty!)

You may just want to grab yourself a cup of tea or lemonade and relax a bit while you read my journey to becoming vegan.

My journey-When I was about 15 I started having really bad stomach problems so my mom took me to a friend who practiced iridology.  It was pretty amazing what he saw and with this he put me on a two week herbal cleanse.  For a 15 year old it was brutal!  Vegetables with nothing on them, salads with no dressing except for lemon and these huge herbal pills that I had to take 3 times a day.  That's when I learned to swallow pills.  Hee hee!  My stomach problems did decrease and I decided to eliminate chicken and cows from my diet.  You see my dads sister had triple by-pass surgery,was diagnosed with diabetes and she continued to eat unhealthy no matter what the doctor said and she passed years later but in her early 60's.  My dads parents died at a young age, I never got to meet them.  Then one time when I was in Australia  I get a call that my dad just had a heart attack "but don't worry he is doing fine and he doesn't want you to rush home, there is nothing you can do", my mom said.  My dad was in his 50's!  Previously  he was diagnosed with diabetes.  I was scared!  I didn't want these things to happen to me.  Moving on...I continued to eat dairy and sea creatures and was still having stomach problems here and there, so I went to a doctor of Oriental Medicine who helped me.  It wasn't until I cut out the dairy about 7 years ago, except the occasional goat cheese or pizza, that really made a big difference on the way I felt, not to be gross or anything but I began to actually use the toilet everyday!

 It was  4 years ago, when I read the China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, on the way home from my brother's house in Arizona that I made the decision to stop eating all animals and animal by-products.  My husband's friend lent me the book, he was in his early 30's at the time with serious kidney problems and the doctor told him to cut down on his protein intake, it's too hard on the kidneys, yet he still eats alot of animal protein. (See one more scary health issue regarding eating animals). This book gives an amazing look at the medical field and how we eat truly plays a huge part on our physical well being/health.  (Just so you know T. Colin Campbell grew up on a Dairy Farm).  I also read some of the book to my husband on the drive home so when I told him I wasn't even going to cook animals at home, he wasn't too surprised.  He understood why and is very supportive of my decision. I wasn't going to be on medication for the rest of my life, to me that isn't lving a long and healthy life!

My next book I read was Diet for a New America by John Robbins, (son of Robbins, of Baskin-Robbins Ice cream),this showed not only about how food affects our health but about how the animals are treated and the affects all of this has on our earth.  Some parts were hard to read because of the descriptions of the treatments of animals, which I really never thought or knew about before, I cried many times throughout.  Truly I never knew how the animals being raised for food are treated and I felt so awful that all along I was playing a part in this because I was purchasing and eating these animals.  I was just as guilty as those who mistreat these animals. My dollars were going towards not only the cruelty, but the destroying and polluting of our earth!  A wonderful story I'd like to share that I read on John Robbins site is called "The Pig Farmer" and it's a very moving and touching story of a real pig farmer who changed his ways. 

 My next  move....what was I going to cook?  I was the one who did all of the cooking and since I was no longer going to cook up any animals I had to have a plan!  I started looking on the internet and I came across a wonderful website called Compassionate Cooks by an awesome woman, Colleen-Patrick Goudreau, and she had these podcasts that you could listen to and recipes listed you could purchase.  The podcasts were so helpful, she answered so many questions like, "The Protein Myth and Vegetarianism", "Where do I get my calcium?", and so much more!  I listened to them so quickly and all the while playing them for my son too.  I highly recommend her podcasts.

Regarding my son.  He became so angry and broke down when he found out how the animals are being treated for food.  He said  " I don't understand why they would do this to them".  Just thinking back on his reaction to all of this makes me want to cry. He was just so so angry!  I know some people think we shouldn't tell our kids about these things and that they should just eat the chicken and drink the cows milk because that's what we all do.  Or even if we become vegan some parents say that we can't make the choice for them to become vegan as well.  Well we've already made the choice, we feed them milk and serve them up chickens and cows.  Why not make a healthier and more kinder choice for them, and teach them that the
food they are eating comes from the ground, has no hurtfull chemicals in it and no animals are ever harmed. Doesn't that sound good?

So that is how I became vegan!  I now eat so much better and try so many more foods than I ever had.  I love kale!  My son finally has a liking for it as well.  So when people ask what I eat,  I can't reply so quickly because there is so much that I eat!  My husband isn't vegan, only at home.  He says, and I've probably quoted him before "if it tastes good I'll eat it".  There isn't too many things he hasn't liked that I've made.  He even eats our cheeseless pizza we buy or make.  He even walked with my son and I for the Farm Sanctuary.  I hope someday he decides to go vegan.  I know it would be so much healthier for him and I want him to be around for a long time.   It would also be nice to have that much more in common then we would be a complete family of vegans!  I like the sounds of that.

If you think you couldn't give up cheese or something like that well, my belief is...if you truly want to do something and set your mind to it, you can do it.  It seems like there is dairy in almost every food out there.  When you decide to go vegan your palate eventually changes and there is so much to truly taste! There are vegan cookbooks galore now and so many recipes here on the internet and so many wonderful blogs. 
I was so excited and still am when I make cookies or even a cake and I don't have to use eggs or butter. 
I never knew before that this was possible! 

If you haven't made the move yet to being vegan and have any questions don't hesitate to send me an e-mail or I'm sure any of the people out there who have these amazing vegan blogs would surely be happy to answer any questions.

Until next post.  Have a wonderful weekend and reflect.

Ladybugs!!! Grilled Bok Choy and Veggies with Lemon Marinade

 It must be the effects of Summer getting to me because I haven't been updating my blogs as much as I would like.  I hope you all are enjoying your summer.

Last week during our hike we stumbled upon something pretty amazing.  I've never seen anything like it.

There were thousands of ladybugs right by a stream coming down from the mountain.  It was crazy at how many there were!

While we were standing there looking in awe of them, they started to fly onto us.   That was a bit weird.

I don't know what kind of plant this is that they were on.  Do any of you? 

Moving on to something with the same color scheme. hee hee 

Here is a juice with celery, kale, parsley, apple and beets. 

We pretty much grill everything during the summer but this was my first time grilling bok choy. I just cut them in halves and poured a lemon marinade over them and all of the other veggies.  I then let them marinade for a couple of hours before I grilled them.

 

Veggies served over brown rice. 

A great book I bought myself a couple of years ago called The New Vegetarian Grill is a must have for summer months.  It's because of this book that I tried grilling the brocolli and bok choy!  The key is to marinate the veggies really well, especially the brocolli.  Anyways, it's easy to adapt the recipes to vegan too! The marinade I made consisted of soy sauce, lemon, garlic, olive oil, sesame oil, water and maple syrup.

Cheers!

Rosemary Lemonade and Grilled Summer Pasta w/Creamy Pesto Sauce

 Another summer monday morning! Right smack in the middle of summer, I love it!!!  I hope everyone had a great weekend and kept it cool.

Here are a few pic's from a hike we recently took.

  Dave and I rode our mountain bikes in this area last year and saw a turtle from the trail so we thought it would be nice to take Keaton and hike part of the stream going down the mountain and find more turtles.  Well, we found a little more than a turtle.

 

This here is a aquatic garter snake, we saw 3 of them.  They are harmless and we grew up with the ordinary garter snake.  They aren't very big and I think they are kind of cute!

This here is a western pond turtle.  This little guy blends in so well with the sand and rock, if he hadn't been laying in the water right in front of me it would have been hard to find him.    I love turtles!!!

We had a great time hiking.  It's such a nice way to spend as a family and we always find something new and we always get great pic's to remember it.

There's nothing like drinking homemade lemonade to cool yourself with on a warm summer day.

This is actually Rosemary Lemonade.  A cafe we go to offers a Rosemary Lemonade so I thought I would try my hand at it.  Keaton loved it and we gave some to Dave and didn't tell him what was in it but the first thing he said was "it smells like that bush by our front door."  He did say it tasted good.  

I don't have exact measurements but this is what I did.  I had some simple syrup made so I reheated it along with  3 large sprigs of fresh rosemary. (simple syrup is made by using equal parts sugar and water, heating it until the sugar dissolves and turns into a syrup).   I let the syrup with the rosemary sit off the heat for about 20min.  In a jar, I used a 32oz. jar and squeezed about 5 large lemons, we like it on the tart side.  Then I poured in the simple syrup and added water 2/3 of the way and topped off with ice.  Pour into a glass and enjoy!

For dinner last night we had Grilled Summer Squash with a creamytomato pesto sauce on pasta.  Grilled yellow summer squash is so juicy and buttery good tasting when you grill it.  Yum!  The sauce was so easy to make, flavorful, yet light on the palate.  A perfect summer pasta!  

Grilled Summer Squash Pasta

Cook up 1 package of pasta according to directions.  Set aside.

Grilled squash

1 Large summer squash, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

olive oil

Heat outside grill. In a small casserole dish add the summer squash, garlic and enough olive oil to coat.  Mix with your hand to evenly coat with oil.  You don't want to stick on the grill.  On medium heat add the squash slices and grill for about 10 min. then flip over for about 2-3min. more.  Take off grill and set aside.

Pesto tomato sauce:

   

4 X-tra large homegrown tomatoes(farmers market) or (storebought but homegrown are so sweet and juicy), chopped 

1 C. white wine or veggie broth(a light broth)

1/2 -3/4 C. basil pesto(I make my own

1/2 C. soy creamer or other non-dairy creamer 

3 red spring onions or green scallions

salt to taste

Heat a medium sized saucepan and add 1 T. olive oil.  Next add in chopped tomatoes.  Let simmer until tomatoes are soft and then add the 1 C. white wine or broth.  Let the white wine or broth reduce to half then stir in the pesto.  Next add in the creamer.  Once heated through take off heat and stir in the spring onions.  Set aside.

To plate, scoop some pasta into pasta bowl.  Pour some sauce onto pasta, add a few slices of grilled squash.  Drizzle a bit more sauce on squash and sprinkle with extra onions.  You can add some fresh cracked pepper over top if you choose.  Serve with a side of fresh green salad!

Ciao!

Grilled Veggie Nachos, Non-dairy Ice Cream Sandwiches and Homemade Beer!

June gloom in July?  What?  So when I go to bed at night the sky is clear and full of stars and when I wake up....cloudy and damp.  Oh well at least it burns off and it's good for the grapevines, you know need to have my wine! Ha ha ha! 

 Speaking of wine.  Since I live in an area that is full of vineyards and wineries I have been in the process of finding wines that are vegan.  I've come to find out so far that just because the bottle doesn't say it's vegan doesn't mean it isn't.  I'm also finding out those that use sustainable practices.  So far there are a couple of wines that I really liked that I found out aren't vegan. Bummer!  Oh well, that just means I get to try out new ones!    

 Recently one of my girlfriends was facebooking about how she had made nacho's and she didn't feel guilty about it one bit. It got me thinking that I have never made nachos, ever!  So how can I make a guilt-free version that actually has some nutrition in it?  Idea!  First I found a great non-dairy cheese sauce recipe on-line, baked my own chips and added grilled veggies.  There's just something yummy about homemade tortilla chips and they aren't loaded with salt.  I prefer more of a cheddar flavor so I threw in a handful of Daiya cheddar to the sauce and stirred until melted.  Dave wanted some Soyrizo so I heated some up, but just a small amount.  The boys loved it!  The next day I used up the leftovers and made Keaton and his friend Nacho's for lunch, his friend raved about the sauce!  I would definitely make this as an appetizer for company or when Keaton has a sleepover for his friends.

    This recipe goes out to you Y!

Grilled Veggie Nachos   

serves 4 as main dish

more as appetizer

Corn tortilla chips(recipe below)

Nacho Cheezy Sauce(recipe below)

Grilled veggies(recipe below), diced

*Pinto beans(I use homemade but you can use canned) 

scallions, sliced

tomato, diced

cilantro, chopped

avocado, chopped

Soyrizo, optional

salsa

To plate.  First lay some corn tortillas on a plate. Next pour some cheezy sauce on top and add the rest of the ingredients on top of that.  Continue with another layer of chips and repeat. 

*Cooking up homemade beans is actually really easy, saves you money and doesn't contain any bpa in them that have leached from the cans.  If you look on the directions on a package of beans it gives you two ways to soak beans, either over night or a quick soak. (I usually do the quick soak).  The total cooking time of the beans really depends on the type of beans.  I find pinto usually takes a good 2 hrs, garbanzo only takes 1hour at the most.  You can also freeze any beans that you aren't using right away.     

Nacho Cheezy Sauce:

makes about 2 cups

2 cups water
¼ cup raw cashews
One 4 oz. jar pimentos, drained
1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
*1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon cumin, heaping
*1/4 daiya cheddar cheese, grated(optional)if you want more of a cheddar flavor

Combine all ingredients in a blender/processor and blend until completely smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium saucepan and whisk constantly over medium heat until thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes.
* If you add the Daiya you may want to cut down a bit on the salt.

Baked Corn Tortillas
Corn tortillas12-18(as  many as you want)
canola spray

Heat oven to 375.
Lay aluminum foil on your top oven rack.  Spray each tortilla on both sides with oil or brush oil if you don't have a spray.  (You can also cut each tortilla into triangles before baking or just break apart when finished baking).  Lay tortillas on aluminum foil, six at a time if using whole.  You will want to flip half way through baking about 5-6 min. on each side. Bake until slightly brown and crispy. 
Note* you can turn up the heat to 400 and they will bake quicker but you really have to watch them because they will burn easy.

Grilled Veggies
2 med. Zucchini, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 anaheim peppers, whole

Heat bbq or indoor grill.  Coat the veggies with olive oil.  Grill until done.  The anaheim peppers are grilled until the skin is charred then put in plastic bag so the skin comes right off or you can scrape off the skin with a knife, then seed and dice up.  Cut up zucchini and red bell pepper and set aside.

Chocolate Mocha Fudge Ice Cream Sandwiches. When I saw the chocolate-dipped Ice cream sandwiches by Chloe in Veg News I new I had to make some for us. Now as you can see these aren't chocolate chip and that's because Keaton picked out the Mocha Fudge so I adjusted the cookie accordingly.  The fun part about Ice Cream sandwiches is that you can make any cookie and fill them with any type of non-dairy ice cream you want.  Next time I'm going with Coconut Bliss for my filler.
 Below is the recipe with my adjustments.

Chocolate Ice-Cream Sandwiches
original recipe by Chloe
adjusted by JoLynn

What you need:

2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup non-hydrogenated margarine(Earth Balance)
1/2 cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla
3-4  oz. bar of dark chocolate, chopped
1 pint Mocha Fudge(So Delicious)

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment.

2.In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, egg replacer, salt. In mixer, beat margarine, sugar, brown sugar, water, and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in flour mixture ½ cup at a time, then add chocolate chunks.

3.Scoop about 2 tablespoons of dough at a time and flatten with the palm of your hand. Repeat with remaining dough, and space on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 15minutes.  These will really flatten.

4.Let the pint of ice cream soften in the refrigerator for about 15 to 30 minutes while the cookies cool.

5.Between 2 cookies, sandwich 1 scoop of ice cream and freeze. Repeat with all remaining cookies.

Isn't this beer lovely?  We finally got to try some homemade beer by a father of one of Keaton's friends.  I was told by the mother, when I called to thank her for this amazing tasting IPA, that

this was the first time in 20 years that her husband didn't use a recipe.  Dave and I were pretty impressed by the flavor of this Indian Pale Ale.  He needs to keep on doing what he's doing because this stuff rocks!!!

  

Look at the beautiful head of this!   We are saving our last bottle to share together, although I have to tell you, yesterday evening, a warm summer evening,  I was so tempted to open it up and drink it myself before Dave got home.  Bad, bad thoughts. lol!  It just tastes so freakin good.  It still sits in the back of the refrigerator, taunting me everytime I open the door.  Diana, if you are reading this, you can tell Warn that we are more than happy to try more anytime! Hee hee!

Happy Birthday Merlin kitty! Yummy 4th of July food!

Happy July!  It's Wednesday and things are getting back to normal from 4th.  It's been a bit cooler in the mornings here the last few days but I can't complain, I know that everyone back east is dealing with record breaking temps.  Sorry for all of you that live in those states, try to do your best to keep somewhat cool.  Just think about about those states that deal with 110-120 temps every summer.  My brother lives in Arizona and a few days ago it was around 115 that day.  I'll stick to living here on the central coast of California.

It's our cat Merlin's 15th birthday this month! 

He joined us for dinner one night.

 

I was washing dishes one evening when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.  Merlin was just sitting up there watching me.  It was really funny!

 

I couldn't leave Cleo out!  This was on the houseboat. 

We grilled pizza's last Saturday night for the first time for my in-laws.  It was also the first time

I've used Daiya(dairy free cheese).  I know... but better late than never.  We usually make cheeseless pizza's but I figured since my father-in-law was here I'd try out the Daiya.  I must say I was very pleasantly surprised!  It is so far the best non-dairy cheese I have ever tasted.  Everyone really liked it too! In the future though, I think we'll stick to cheeseless pizza's, just because I'm not used to having any type of cheese product and putting the cheese on all 3 different types of pizza's were a bit too much for me.  I didn't get a chance to take a pic of all 3 pizza's but this one was a tomato, onion, mushroom, vegan sausage with daiya cheese.  Yum! 

Our favorite black bean burgers with a grilled corn and tomato salsa.  This salsa is so good you can use it to top off tortilla chips!  Just grill up a few corn on the cobs, then cut the corn off the cob.  Chop up a couple of ripe tomatoes, cilantro, scallions/red onion, lime juice, jalepeno(to taste), s & p. 

So my plan for dessert on the 4th was to make berry hand pies but the Pate Brisee was so fragile I only got to making 4 little ones and they were falling apart at that.  Soooo....I opted to use all the berries I had, mix them together and make a Triple Berry Crumble Pie!  The berries were blackberry, blueberries and strawberries.  I mixed in some arrowroot and sugar, then poured into the pie crust.  

For the crumble top I used, flour, brown sugar and Earth Balance.

This doesn't look so great,  but I had wax paper covering the top so it kind of softened the crumble topping.

I must admit this was one very delicious tasting Triple Berry Crumble Pie!  This is the first time I've used strawberries in a baked pie.  It's also the first time I've used a crumble top on a berry pie.   Since I didn't use much sugar with the berries the crumble top sweetened it nicely.

  

Last week I had a visit from 2 of my best friends.  We have been hooked on succulents lately and there is a great place in Los Olivos with amazing arrangements and succulents.  One of my girlfriends made me this cute arrangement from some of her succulents.  When the girls come out we've been exchanging propegated plants and succulents from our cuttings.  It's a nice way to add to our collection of plants and make for nice little gifts.  It's alot of fun too!

This is an arrangement I made using a Corona pail.  I just made some holes in the bottom of the pail, added rock for drainage, filled with cactus/succulent soil mix and then the succulents.  There is some Irish Moss in the middle.  The nice things about succulents are that they grow pretty quickly, easy to care for and don't require much watering.

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