Roasting Veggies for Later Tonight To Serve with Dinner

I took one sweet potato, a bunch of red beets and 1 red bell pepper.

I peeled the beats and then chopped the sweet potato and cut the bell pepper, in a bowl I mixed those two with some olive oil, sea salt and peppercorns set the over the 350 degrees --- then I lined a baking sheet with wax paper. I then put the beets in another dish to coat with the EVOO, salt and pepper (salt is optional of course, I use kosher). I put all vegetables on the lined baking sheet and cooked until done (the potato and pepper cooked faster, so I took those out and continued to cook the beets for another 15 minutes or so).

Note: If you never tried beets, it's a must. If you have only had them out of can then all the more you NEED to try them fresh! You can saute up the greens at the tops of the steams with some onion, oil and garlic and then boil or roast your beets up, cut up and put over the greens as a warm salad (to make the dressing, in a small bowl add in apple cider vinegar, ground stone mustard and some olive oil, pure over and you won't regret the taste! SIMPLY INCREDIBLE!!!

THIS IS HOW RICH a roated   beet looks (warning: the red beets stain...so be careful:)

Sauted Mustard Greens with a White Kidney Bean and Garlic Sauce

Mustard Greens Are Spunky and soulful ---has pungent, peppery flavor (sometimes can be bitter to some people).  HIGH IN PROTEIN!!!

In a large sauteing pan (one that has a cover) cover bottom of pan with EVOO

Chopped and wash your mustard green, rinse well and mix in some EVOO and toss around to all green are lightly covered with the oil.

Set stove on med heat and saute garlic until tender (but please don't burn)

Now add in your greens. Saute some more, stirring all around.

Take a half can of white kidney beans (rise well, lots of salt in those can foods!!!) add in blender (I used my Magic Bullet) pop in 2 LARGE garlic cloves, some EVOO and some water so that it will blend up into a sauce-like mixture!!

Add that into the pan with the green and cover and for 5-8 minutes, turn down heat to low-med level at this point. Checking it every minute or so.

Serve as a side dish at dinner or have for lunch with a nice, crusty piece of bread!!

Mustard Greens:

There are 22 Calories in an average serving, along with 0.2g Total Fat, 0.0g Saturated Fat, 0g Trans Fat, 0mg Cholesterol, 21mg Sodium, 4g Total Carbohydrates, 3g Dietary Fiber, 1g Sugar, and 2g Protein. It also provides 176% Vitamin A, 98% Vitamin C, 9% Calcium, and 7% Iron. Learn more about calories, nutrition, vitamins, and minerals by going to Google and reading up on this tasty green!!

Lentil, Grains and Other Bean Veggie Soup

In a sauce pan I put some EVOO, added in some chopped celery and let it saute!
Then added in 2 small cloves of garlic, chopped and 1 shallot chopped. Let that saute up some!
Chopped some mushrooms and added them in.
Chopped carrots and 1 small potato and added that into the mixture. Diced a little bit of red bell pepper and added that in (optional). Add in a large bay leaf (be sure to remove before serving) and a pinch of dried parsley (or fresh, which is better) and some dried Thyme! Ground some peppercorns in. Optional is come Kosher salt.
I added in some Vegetable stock.
Now I washed and put in some dried lentils (1 cup), 1/4 cup of Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix (optional)
and 1/4 cup of Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend (which has couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans and red quinoa in it) ALSO: OPTIONAL (and you can certainly substitute!!!
I covered and let simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes. I blended up 2 more cloves of garlic with 1/2 can of White Kidney Beans, added some EVOO inside and some water so that it would blend easily. Once blended to just about a liquid sauce looking mixture, I added that into the soup. This not only adds EXTRA fiber but it also makes it taste a whole lot better, it's almost a creamy texture!!! (that is also optional but I doubt you will regret it:) I used the other half of can of bean and did the same process for another recipe (see recipe above for Mustard Greens).

Looks good, right? It's SO healthy for you, VERY filling and in my opinion is best served with a GREAT loaf of your favorite bread (I won't tell you which to use but I enjoy the pheasant bread with whole, roasted garlic cloves inside~ yum!!!! ~enjoy eating well~

Some Spring Pictures Of Mass to Share With You

Taken on 04-25-2010

Come and Visit with Us!!!

Two Years ago in May I got my son a nice metal frame for a poster to hang (which he has one inside of it from a movie--Indiana Jones)



today I found this site off another blog ORK POSTERS. I ordered him the Boston one in Black and White and hope he'll love it!!!


He will be 14 in May and so feel this is a more grown up look than Indiana Jones, although if he wants to keep that one, we'll just get another frame for it.

What do you think of it? I think it would be neat in a den, office and a guest bath too!!

I preferred the B&W one but the red is nice as well.

My Lovely Daughter

On March 31st. my 23-year old daughter underwent surgery. She had a tumor on her pituitary gland--so it was BRAIN surgery! Extremely scary for us all! She had a top notch doctor at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who is world-wide known for his work, we were truly blessed to have been so close by to have had him perform the surgery and remove the tumor. They actually removed it from her nose (I know, nasty) and plug up the spot that drilled with her belly button (because the belly button grows stems cell and will adhere to her nose in time so she won't get bleeding). It is very nasty and interesting at the same time!

We are so blessed she doing very well. She came home Easter Sunday, how about that!!!?? She was unable to dress for a while and so she popped by last night dressed up and allowed me to take some photos of her.

She is so brave, sassy, beautiful, has a wonderful sense of humor and is truly our female blessing! We have a son whom is our male blessing:)

We are thankful for all the prayers and positive thoughts that helped us get through this incredible ordeal and now it's a journey in the making of her healing up.....and us parents recovering from it all as well! It is shocking how a day can change your life...sometimes for the worse and other times for the very best. Count YOUR blessing and peace out. xsoxo ~Richelle~

We thank our good LORD in all of this--the power of prayer works!

Healthy School Lunches / Become a Citizen Lobbyist: Ask Congress for Healthier School Meals on April 21!

Healthy School Lunches / Become a Citizen Lobbyist: Ask Congress for Healthier School Meals on April 21!

This Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix is Great!

I am thinking of all the different ways I can use this..Hmmm. More to post on this!

A Simple Lunch Sandwich

Take any wrap (I used Tomato Basil with Extra Virgin Olive Oil) spread Garden Vegetable Hommus, then add Tabouole Salad, Romaine, cut up some Pitted Calamata Olives--roll up and enjoy!!!