Gourmet by Lisa

Yummy, easy, quick, and healthy dinner from the weekend.

1.) Set aside 2 large tortillas.
2.) Cut up zucchini and mushrooms. Saute Garlic, zucchini and mushrooms with Olive Oil.

3.) Rinse black beans. Rinse quartered artichoke hearts.

4.) Smear light layer of cream cheese on half of one side of each tortilla.
5.) Cut up into small pieces or shred your favorite cheese.
6.) Put sauteed zucchini and mushrooms on 1/2 of tortilla (on top of cream cheese). Add black beans and artichokes. Top with Cheese. Fold Tortilla in 1/2. Put in toaster oven or conventional oven for about 5 minutes at 350....or until cheese is melted and tortilla has slight browning.
7.) Enjoy with fresh fruit!

The great thing about this meal is that you can really put whatever you want in the tortilla! I also really like artichoke hearts, black olives, tomatoes and sprinkled with basil. Yum. Try your own version. What would you like on yours? Share in comments if you feel so compelled!

Passing it on...

Through the pregnancy, it's been tempting to buy cute baby clothes, but we've done a good job controlling that.  We only have a few pieces.  We figured people always like to buy cute outfits, even when what you REALLY need is practical things, so that's what we've avoided buying clothing for her.   Well, wow, generosity has taken place in a serious manner.  One of my coworkers has a daughter who was born in late August a few years ago.  That means that the sizing and season of her daughter's clothes will be similar to our needs.  She said she would bring some stuff in that she would like to get rid of.  People say these kinds of things, so I wasn't counting on it.  Monday when I came in, there were 3 BIG boxes by my desk.  All clothes!   We are officially set on clothing for our daughter  - at least for the first year and a half!    She passed on everything from newborn to 18 months!  We have lots of great things from shoes to onesies to sleepers to bibs.  My mom also had picked up some cute things to contribute to our clothing needs last time I saw her.  We are so blessed to have all this wonderful stuff without having to acquire it on our own.  Attached is a picture of just SOME the great stuff my coworker passed on....this picture is only newborn to 6 months, huge stacks!  Even though she said she didn't want any money, I plan to do something nice for her.   This was such a nice gesture and needs to be noticed :)

This is a cool thing about bats and moths if you like that kinda thing :)

Scifri Videos: Moths Can Escape Bats By Jamming Sonar

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10 Things You Should Avoid

"What you choose to buy or not buy has a tremendous impact on the world we share. Every year, the average American household will spend $17,000 on basics including food, clothing, body care, housewares etc. Now imagine that every dollar spent went toward promoting healthy, organic food; ending sweatshops and promoting Fair Trade; and creating a national marketplace for green products. That’s what buying green is all about." Read More.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I'm happy to report that I'm finally on the last pages of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by: Barbara Kingsolver! It's not that the reading was arduous by any means, I just hadn't found the time to read it in a reasonable about of time....instead, it took me about 3 months - haha! Too busy. Anyhow, the book is awesome! I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in local food, sustainability, organics, homesteading, etc. In the book, Kingsolvers details a year of her and her family eating locally. This means producing the majority of their own food, swapping resources with neighbors, hitting up the local farmers markets, and ultimately attempting to eat only that which is grown organically and locally. The book is structured by months, which if you garden is a great way to follow! It gives tips on how to plan meals around what is abundant during certain months (i.e. Tomatoes in September). Also through the book are exceprts from Steven L. Hopp (Kingsolvers hubby) regarding some of the ramifications of our current food habits. He discusses the conditions animals are in prior to making it to the grocery, how far our food travels, the result of pestisides, and lots of cool, geeky science stuff. Kingsolver's daughter, Camille, also writes excerpts from her perspective of eating local with her family. She's in school for biology and has a interest in dietary needs - so she includes many great recipes. I can't wait to try them! That's that for my amatuer book review. I'd rate this 5 out of 5 - great book! You can get more information about the book: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

Hot Hot Hot

Wow, it's been a long hot week - I'm convinced it hasn't been below 90 on any given day. Apparently we are going to get a break for the weekend, when it will be REAL summer weather here - in the 70's. Perfect! My favorite!

Things are going great at our house! My pregnancy is still rolling along smoothly. It's been hot, albeit only June! It's probably best I get used to this....the last three months of my pregnancy will be mid-summer. We finally have the rest of our garden planted. We didn't do much for variety this year. We have strawberries, which have provided me much joy of eating! We have around 12 or more tomato plants since Tim's Aunt and Uncle had some extra's to give away. We have two eggplants (one that came up from last year and one gifted). Our garlics are coming along real nice. That's it though. We wanted to keep it realistic since baby is due during harvest season! I'm sure we'll still have our hands full when it comes to those tomatoes. We'll probably do a combination of canning and freezing. A gal I work with roasts her tomatoes in the oven and freezes them. She said it's quick and easy to use when thawed. Might give that a whirl. Sounds good with pasta! I'd also like to try canning salsa this year. Salsa is so great on so many things, potatoes, chicken, chips, burittos, etc. For our strawberries, we ate some fresh, and froze the rest whole so we can thaw and use for pancake topping, etc in winter. I'll have to post some pictures of our strawberry abundance!

Another project Tim did this summer was to let a portion of the backyard grow out. Well, it wasn't exactly a high labor project. He just don't cut the grass there, which has been a huge time and gas saver for mowing! The grow out is getting interesting. Some flowering plants are popping up, including white and purple clover, thistle, and we planted some coneflower and transplanted daisy. It's looking good - but we aren't sure exactly how our neighbors feel about it! We've noticed a significant increase in birds this summer. The long grass is probably a great place for them to hide out and eat bugs of all sorts! We have some really orange orioles, many robins, starlings, grackles, sparrow, chickadee's, and we also have some squirrels and a bunnies. The front yard, which is much more groomed is looking great! The groundcover I have in the beds is blooming, so there is a carpet of white and pink all over, looks great!

Oh, did you hear Michael Jackson died? I'm being facetious of course. It's all over the media. A very talented man with a mixed-up life. I won't be surprised when the autospy comes back stating he had an overdoes of prescription drugs in his system.

On that note, happy Friday and here's to a safe and happy weekend!!

Oracle in the Desert | Craig Childs | Orion Magazine

Thought this was an interesting narrative about a cop who now seeks solidarity in the desert.

Oracle in the Desert | Craig Childs | Orion Magazine

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Purple Flower

The Beach

We spent some time at the beach down the road from the property.  There was no one else there - it was about 80 degrees.  I take it the beach is rarely frequented since it's completely unmarked and we've only once seen someone there.  Tim decided to go in the water.  Let's remember, this is Lake Superior.   As suspected, it was COLD water.  The dogs enjoyed running in the water and of course came back to the blanket I was sitting on to come and shake off - after they rolled around in the sand.  Here are some pictures of the beach:

Paulie the Porcupine

We were up at the property this weekend.  It was a wonderful trip!  The weather was sunny and 68-75 degrees - beautiful!  When we got there, we were surprised to see all the apple (and other fruit trees?) in bloom. Lots of new ground cover and flowers were coming up too.  Drawf dogwood, ferns, starflowers, violets, and stagham moss in the wooded areas.  Hawkeye, raspberries, possibly a daisy of sorts (hadn't blossomed yet) in the sunny areas.   Marsh marigolds, iris (not in bloom yet), unique mushrooms, and more violets in the bog area.  Just amazing!   We find beauty everywhere on the property.  While we were sitting under one of the blossoming fruit trees, Tim spotted something in one of the aspen trees near by.  He came running back for the camera, and we took pictures throughout the evening.    It's a porcupine!  We watched him up in the tree top, sleeping, observing us, and eating.   I am amazed by porcupines!  I guess I never really seen one in the wild, and up in the tree it was a slow, docile creature.    Of course, I would never want a close encounter with one, but I'm happy to have at least one who lives on our property!  We named him Paulie the Porcupine :)