They say that confession is good for the soul right? I mean, what good is doing a blog if you can't just get something off your chest every once in awhile? My family and I have been doing this "natural foods" (read: health food/real food/whatever-we're-calling-it-these-days food) thing for a long time. We started hardcore into it when my first son, Oscar was born; so I guess about 14
Chocolate Chip Mango Cream Shake w/ Lime (Dairy Free, No Added Sugar)
They say that confession is good for the soul right? I mean, what good is doing a blog if you can't just get something off your chest every once in awhile? My family and I have been doing this "natural foods" (read: health food/real food/whatever-we're-calling-it-these-days food) thing for a long time. We started hardcore into it when my first son, Oscar was born; so I guess about 14
Herbed Crispy Flat Bread W/ Chicken, Arugula & Mango-Strawberry Salsa (Grain Free)
Last Saturday, my family and I had the privilege of picking up our very first 'co-op style' produce share from Urban Acres and I must say....the experience was MARVELOUS. We decided beforehand to bring our camera and make a short video and we had such a blast!
Earlier in the week, I saw on their website that we were getting Texas figs in our share and I wasn't just a little giddy!
Banana Sour Cream Muffins
A basket of warm banana muffins.
When I have bananas that are over-ripe,
I peel them and pop the fruit in a Ziploc bag.
I can flatten the bags and store them the
freezer for when I want to make muffins.
Each bag has just enough banana for a batch.
I sprinkle some of the tops with cinnamon sugar.
These muffins freeze well too.
Banana Sour Cream Muffins
1 stick butter, room temp.
1 C sugar
2 eggs, (lightly beaten)
1 C sour cream
1 t vanilla
2 mashed bananas (1 C)
1-1/2 C flour
1 t baking soda
pinch salt
(1/2 C chopped pecans)
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs, then sour cream and vanilla.Add the mashed bananas. Combine the flour, soda and salt in a sifter and sift in.
Stir just to combine. Add the nuts if desired. Divide among 12 sprayed muffin cups, sprinkle the tops with sugar or cinnamon sugar if desired. Bake @350 for 15 minutes.
makes 1 dozen.
Enjoy!
Perfect 'Grain Free' Chocolate Chip Cookies (also dairy/egg free)
Fair Warning: You are about to experience the most amazing chocolate chip cookie. EVER. (Grain free or not!) This little bit of cookie heaven was the result of one of those serendipitous accidents that you never could have planned, even if you wanted to. While baking a batch of my regular chocolate chip cookies (the recipe I almost posted last week!), I ran out of a critical ingredient
July 2012 Self-Care Retreat -- Using Creativity as Self-Care
Last month Cheryl Harris asked a handful of bloggers if they were interested in participating in her 2nd Annual Self-Care Retreat. Cheryl started this last year as a way for people to remember how important it is to take good care of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I've always had an interest in self-care practices and I was excited about participating in her blogging series this year.
Finding Creativity in Everyday Life
It's amazing to me how as we become adults we can sometimes "forget" how to be creative. We tend to think creativity is simply arts and crafts meant for young children... and oh how it's not. Over the past year and a half I've had wellness & nutrition coaching from Cheryl. Cheryl has helped me to "remember" and find ways of being creative to help me deal with the stress of daily life. I used to eat my way through stress. I didn't realize it at the time... but that's how I dealt with frustrations and hard emotions... i would bake cake... and eat it. I would bake cookies (for my husband, of course) and eat them. I would bake muffins (for work, you know) and eat them...
And while I still love baking (as it too is a useful creative outlet) it's generally not what I do anymore when I'm stressed. I've "dabbled" in many different forms of creativity in the past year to help me release and manage my stress. Today I'm going to share a few of the practices that have really helped me and worked for me. The great thing about creativity is that it's truly limitless, so while what I'm sharing with you today may not be of interest to you... there are so many other outlets you can use to express yourself, your feelings, and emotions. The best creative outlets to use are the ones that come to you easily and that you enjoy doing.
 |
| Image Source: Different examples of how mandalas can be created. |
One of the things I discovered this year was mandalas. Mandalas are quite simply drawings or colorings within the boundaries of a circle. You can completely create them yourself or that you can "fill in" by coloring with the help of books and free mandala patterns you can find online. The mandala is not just a drawing, but it's a drawing in a circle. Within the circle you can draw or color anything you'd like. It's an open space with boundaries that you can color, paint, draw, etc... What I love about the mandala is that it's a way to share your thoughts and feelings without words. You can use words of course, but sometimes just using colors to discover how you feel (either only to yourself or to others) is very liberating. It can feel as if you are unlocking a hidden part of yourself through colors and images. Mandalas are often used in spiritual practices and in some psychology practices as a way to share and interpret inner feelings, thoughts, and emotions. One of my favorite experts in the art & psychology of mandalas is Dr. Susanne Fincher. For a more in-depth look at what mandalas are and how they work, please check out her Mandalas history page.
For me, doing a mandala is a quiet, thoughtful, creative experience. It's time away from the computer. It's time that I stop thinking of all that is happening in my life and it centers me, much like prayer. For those who are spiritual it can be a way of medication or to use prayer in a creative way on paper. I often have a hard time focusing on one thing because life is so busy and we are pulled in so many directions so often. By coloring mandalas, it's a way for me to stop the business for about 15-30 minutes. To simply focus on choosing colors, finding a pattern that helps me understand what I'm feeling, and then the motion of coloring or drawing for those 30 minutes is extremely relaxing, de-stressing, and centering. I try to spend that time in a quiet area. In my bedroom, in the kitchen... away from television, radio, and most importantly the computer and simply focus on that time on that picture, on that circle.
 |
| From the letters & journals of an old friend Mrs. Lucy Derrick Swindells |
Another way of using creativity as a form of self-care is to journal. This comes naturally to some people and not at all to others. I journal in spurts. There are days and weeks I feel like journaling and there are times I don't. I follow those instincts. I actually haven't journaled in several months until writing about it today. And I have felt the urge to write for about two weeks. Sometimes the thoughts and feelings are so painful or emotional it can be hard to encourage yourself to write. Writing peels back layers of who you are. Writing can open you up to new thoughts and feelings and can help you dig deep when you need too.
There are many, MANY different ways you can journal. Sometimes I journal on old-fashioned pen & paper. Sometimes I use markers or crayons as I do with Mandalas, because I feel that using colors can help me express myself better. (For great ideas and thoughts on journaling visit PlanetSark.com) Sometimes I use an online journal service called Penzu. I wrote about Penzu during last December's Sanity Challenge and I still love it!
Journaling doesn't JUST have to be about your most in-depth feelings and thoughts. There are tons of different types of writing and journaling you can do:
- travel journaling (traveling doesn't have to be far. It could be to work, to the grocery store, on a hike 15 minutes away from home -- write about the land around you, the people you saw, the conversations you had or didn't have, the way you felt, the weather, the wildlife, tree, grass, and flowers -- this type of journaling is often a good introduction to simply begin writing. Once you feel comfortable with this type of journaling, you may feel compelled to write about deeper and more personal thoughts.
- prayer journaling (talking to God or your higher power (OA speak for ya! :-) by way of journaling is a powerful, releasing, and refreshing. Be truthful. Be LOUD. Be quiet. However you need to speak, do it here. Anger, joy, excitement, fear... you should feel free to express all these things in an intimate and personal way.)
- eating/exercise/wellness journaling (often when writing about what i'm eating and how i'm exercising leads me to write more about how I'm feeling and what's going on that day)
- poetry journaling (sometimes the fewest words can be the most powerful)
- letter-writing journals (great way to practice confronting a problem, sharing with relatives or friends who are no longer with us, even just to talk some sense to yourself!)
- recipe journaling (where did you get a recipe, why is it special, what does it mean to you?)
Need more ideas for exercising your creativity?
- Take a photography class. (Create a photography journal!)
- Create and write a blog.
- Learn how to make jewelry to give as gifts.
- Make ROOM for creativity: declutter one room in your house to have more space and feel more at peace.
- Take up cross-word puzzles, word-finds, and/or sudoku. Give yourself 15-20 minutes a day to simply work on the puzzle and not be distracted by life.
- Buy a sketch-pad. Sit under a tree and let your pen, pencil, marker, or crayon go to town. Don't think, just sketch. It doesn't have to be perfect, legible, or even "pretty" by your own standards, just allow your mind to wander on paper.
- Try sewing, cross-stitch, crochet, or knitting. Focusing on the beautiful colors, textures, and types of fabrics, string, and yarn -- you can let your mind rest as you create beautiful pieces of art. Don't get discouraged if an art is a learning curve for you, enjoy not having to be perfect.
- Remember old-fashioned puzzles? Buy one. Put it together. Puzzles are relaxing and fun.
- Be creative with your menu or with exercise. Try new foods or seasonings. Try an exercise you don't think you can do. Challenge yourself.
- Music. Make it. Play it. Sing it. Dance. Find music that moves you and listen to it often. Meditate to music. Exercise with music. Cook with music.
--borrowed from Valerie's latest post! Thank you for such a thorough write-up Valerie!
Our fantastic group of bloggers and themes:
- June 30th Food: Cheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness
- July 7th Support and Connection: Valerie of City Life Eats
- July 14th Movement : Shirley of Gluten Free Easily (GFE)
- July 21st Creativity: Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl
- July 28th Inward Reflection: Iris of The Daily Dietribe
As a little added incentive, for each post on your goals and your progress you link back here or one of the other co-hosts, you’ll be entered to receive a $50 gift certificate to Nuts.com (they are not sponsoring, Cheryl is donating this gift and wanted something with healthy gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, etc. options).
Valerie updated last year’s badge to use for the retreat; feel free to use it in your posts. If you would like to be included in our roundup and the drawing, please email a link to your post, along with your name and blog name, to us at selfcareretreat at gmail dot com by July 30, 2012.
Non-bloggers who would like to contribute, please e-mail the full text to the same address and it will be included in the roundup.
For a “flavor” of previous retreats, here’s a link to the July Self-Care Retreat and the December Sanity Challenge.
Fiesta Quiche
I was in the mood for a quiche for lunch.
Haven't made a quiche in ages and then I see
several quiches this week on blogs.
I had to make one. Luckily I had all the
ingredients in the house for my Fiesta Quiche.
It's quick and easy. Just mix everything
Use a large deep dish pie pan.
I still had one store crust.
Just unroll and into the pan it goes.
It's great leftover the next day too.
You can even cheat and make it without a crust
.....if you're in a hurry.
Fiesta Quiche
5 eggs
1-1/2 C whole milk
1/4 C salsa
1 can diced green chilies
1/2 C finely chopped onion
2 C monterey jack/cheddar cheese
9" unbaked deep pie shell
pinch of cumin, salt, chili powder, opt.
Whisk the eggs well. Whisk in the milk,
salsa, onion, green chilies, and
optional seasonings, Stir in the cheese.
Shape the pie shell into a deep dish pan.
Pour in the filling. Bake @350 45 minutes
until puffed and center is firm.
Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
Enjoy!
"Plan B" Meals for Busy Weeks
Ever feel completely overwhelmed with life? That's how I've felt the past few weeks. Don't worry, I'm learning to manage it. I'll talk about that more in July with a post on dealing with feelings and emotions creatively through journaling and an artistic therapy called mandala.
But one thing that's been stressing me out lately is food. I haven't had any desire to cook on a regular basis. I'll feel like it occasionally for dinner or breakfast... but overall... I just don't feel the desire or creativity to make food.
It's an odd conundrum for a food blogger. Not really sure how to have a food blog, without food... so one thing that's come to the rescue in the past few weeks is Pure Foods/Fresh Start. It's actually a diet food service that sends meals to people trying to lose weight. And while weight loss is currently a goal for me... I just needed safe food. I wanted safe, gluten-free meals I could have readily available so we wouldn't go out to eat as much. We were spending wayyyyyyyy too much money, eating the same boring meals at Chick Fil A or Wendy's because Carrie just hasn't felt like being a food blogger.
So enter Pure Foods/ Fresh Start. No, they haven't paid me anything. Nor have they sent me free samples or items to try. I've purchased the meals and tried them the past three weeks. So here are a few positive and negative highlights about the company and the food if you're interested:
Positive:
- The company is a diet foods company, therefore the meals are "healthy" by being lower in fat, low in sodium, high in fiber, and generally rank low on the glycemic index. These definitions of "healthy" may not meet your personal goals... but I think in general the meals work well for me.
- They offer a pretty generous selection of gluten-free entrees. There are breakfast, lunch, and dinner options (I think about 30 overall?) You pick and choose which entrees you want.
- You have a lot of options about how many meals you want. You can choose 5 days worth of meals, 7 days worth of meals, 3 full meals a day, 3 meals + snacks, 2 meals, 1 meal... however you want it... they offer you the option of customization.
- Great actual food packaging and quick delivery. I found this blog which shows how the meals are packaged and how they arrive. The meals are in pretty decent reusable containers and will keep for two full weeks in your refrigerator or you can freeze them for even longer storage.
- CONVENIENCE!!!! Anybody on a gluten-free diet/lifestyle knows how hard it can be to eat out or to have to prepare every single meal you will ever eat. Right now, the convenience and the fact that they are healthy, correctly portioned meals, is hugely important to me.
Negative:
- This ain't your grandmama's cooking... not that grandma was well-versed in gluten-free cookin'... but low sodium, low fat means adjusting your taste buds. The meals don't taste bad (and really I'm not that picky), but they definitely made me realize how much fat & salt I had been using in meals at home and on the road.
- Some meals are better than others. I'm not a fan of the baked cod & black bean salad. But I do like and enjoy most of the meals.
- Shipping Container/Packaging -- this really isn't that big of a deal, but the company uses a lot of weird packaging to ship the food to you. It's shipped in a big box with big bags of some type of frozen gel, which keeps it all cool and it's in a big bag, and lots of styrofoam to keep things cold, which works great for the food, but it's not very "green" or environmentally friendly... but I'm not sure of a much better way either!
Want More Info:
The Company: http://www.purefoodsfreshstart.com/Phone: (866)52-MEALS (526-3257)
Email: Julie.Hanes@purefoods.com
Waiting
lately we're spending lots of weekends traveling to see my Dad, who is very sick in the hospital. this is the view from the waiting room. the pictures are taken with my sad little flip phone, but i actually love the grainy, unfocused quality of them.
because life feels rather fuzzy some days right now. we spent lots of time waiting. a little bit of time visiting. a lot of time hoping and praying. i'm not worried about clarity, about perfect meals, or about how often i'm getting a work out in. it will happen.
within the halls of this big hospital are these little quilts from patients who have gotten better. in this particular area, the quilts are all from cardiac patients... it's comforting to see them.
visiting hours end at 10pm. when we get there i try to see Dad at least 3 times a day, in the morning, in the evening and once before bed to wish him good night. saturday evening he mouthed "i love you" and squeezed my hand. i decided it was a good night to visit my old friend the roanoke star. it was hot and humid and you could see a cloud hanging over the valley above all the lights...
but the star, my star, was bright and beautiful... as always.
Spicy Chilli Chicken Recipe
Need a break from everyday Indian meals? Then look no further than Indo-chinese recipes. Popular among them are Gobi manchurian, Chicken manchurian and one of my favorites Chilli Chicken. For beginners Indo-chinese cuisine is basically the usage of chinese seasoning, sauces and cooking techniques mixed in with some indian spices to suit Indian tastes.
The Chilli chicken recipe here is a dry and spicy version where marinated chicken pieces are deep fried then cooked in a mixture of green chilly, capsicum, soya sauce & red chili sauce and finally garnished with spring onion. So lets get cooking!
Ingredients for Chilli Chicken Recipe
- Boneless Chicken – 1/2 kilogram (1 inch pieces)
- Green Chilly – 15-20 (cut length-wise)
- Onion – 1 small (thin long slices or short thick cubed slices)
- Capsicum (Bell Pepper) – 1 (thin long slices or short thick cubed slices)
- Soya Sauce – 1 tablespoon
- Red Chili Sauce – 1 1/2 teaspoons
- Ajinomoto – 1/4 teaspoon (optional)
- Sugar – 1/4 teaspoon
- Garlic – 8-10 cloves(chopped finely)
- Ginger – 1 teaspoon (finely chopped pieces)
- Pepper Powder – 3/4 teaspoon
- Corn Flour – 3 tablespoon
- Egg – 1
- Spring Onion – 4 chopped
- Water – 1 1/2 cup
- Food color (red or orange) – 1 pinch
- Oil for deep frying
- Salt to taste
Prep time: 15 minCook time: 30 minServing: 4 people
Chicken Marinade
- In a bowl take the chicken pieces and add 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Add 2 tablespoon corn flour, 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon pepper powder (rest will be used later).
- Mix the ingredients well and set the bowl aside for 10 minutes.
Cooking method for Chilly Chicken Recipe
- In a frying pan or a heavy bottomed vessel take sufficient oil for deep frying on medium heat.
- When the oil is hot put the marinated chicken pieces into it and deep fry them for around 8 minutes.
- After 8 minutes take the chicken pieces out and put them on tissue paper to remove the excess oil.
- Take another pan on medium heat and add 1 tablespoon oil.
- When the pan is hot add chopped ginger and garlic and stir for 2 minutes.
- Now add green chilly and mix for another minute.
- Toss in onion and capsicum and fry for 3 more minutes.
- Its time now to put in the soya sauce and red chilly sauce. Mix the contents well.
- Add 1 cup water, stir the contents and wait till it starts to boil.
- Now add food color, salt to taste and mix again. At this stage you can now taste a few drops of liquid to check for salt and also for spice level. You can add more salt or more red chilly sauce based on your taste needs. Be careful to not overdo it.
- Add a pinch of food color and mix well.
- Its time for the star of the the dish the chicken to go in . Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper powder, ajinomoto (optional) and sugar.
- In a separate vessel or a cup, add 1/2 cup of water, 1 tablespoon corn flour and stir. This will be used as the thickening agent.
- Now increase the heat from medium to high. Add the corn flour water mixture little by little and stir the contents slowly. You will see that the contents starts to thicken.
- When there is no liquid left, the chilli chicken recipe is almost done. Take the pan off the heat and add finely chopped fresh spring onion and mix gently.
Serve hot as a starter/appetizer or as a side dish. Enjoy!
Kale Chip Nachos W/'No Dairy' Parmesan (Paleo/Priaml/GAPS)
Once again, I am super thrilled to be sharing one of my recipes over at the amazing Mommypotamus! One of my favorite Real Foods/Family bloggers. Heather, is a seemingly unending source of information on important subjects such healthy eating, natural health and beauty, "Real Foods", breastfeeding, early baby foods, natural remedies, general parenting, and the list goes on and on! So head on
July 2012 Virtual Self-Care Retreat
This month I'm honored to be participating in Cheryl Harris' July 2012 Self-Care Retreat. I feel like in many ways my blog has morphed from being a food blog into one that's more centered on holistic wellness and self-care. In many ways that transition has been due to the amazing coaching I've received from Cheryl Harris of Harris Whole Health (and author of the blog GF Goodness) over the past year and a half.
I will be writing a post for Saturday July 21 on how simply being creative can share a huge role in self-care. Until my post rolls around, I hope you'll visit the other incredible bloggers who are participating in this event.
More information about the July 2012 Self-Care Retreat
--borrowed from Valerie's latest post! Thank you for such a thorough write-up Valerie!
Our fantastic group of bloggers and themes:
- June 30th Food: Cheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness
- July 7th Support and Connection: Valerie of City Life Eats
- July 14th Movement : Shirley of Gluten Free Easily (GFE)
- July 21st Creativity: Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl
- July 28th Inward Reflection: Iris of The Daily Dietribe
As a little added incentive, for each post on your goals and your progress you link back here or one of the other co-hosts, you’ll be entered to receive a $50 gift certificate to Nuts.com (they are not sponsoring, Cheryl is donating this gift and wanted something with healthy gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, etc. options).
Valerie updated last year’s badge to use for the retreat; feel free to use it in your posts. If you would like to be included in our roundup and the drawing, please email a link to your post, along with your name and blog name, to us at selfcareretreat at gmail dot com by July 30, 2012.
Non-bloggers who would like to contribute, please e-mail the full text to the same address and it will be included in the roundup.
For a “flavor” of previous retreats, here’s a link to the July Self-Care Retreat and the December Sanity Challenge.
Gluten Free Weekly Menu - Cooking for the week
I feel like a broken record in saying this... but life is busy and unpredictable right now. And honestly, it's too darn hot to cook... Over the past month I've been using a food service called Pure Foods Fresh Start to deliver gluten free meals to my house once a week and it's been awesome. I'll share more thoughts on this food service in a later post... but I missed a few weeks weeks in ordering so I've had to *gasp* actually cook the past few days.
And honestly... I'm a bit spoiled... I'm rather enjoying this whole NOT cooking thing... :-) But since I forgot to order, we had to do something for meals this week. I knew if I left it up to cooking once I got home every night it would probably not happen. Since we're trying to watch our budget and not go out to eat right now, I decided to simply cook all of our meals today. In 100 degree weather. I'm sure I'll appreciate the effort the rest of this week when all I have to do is heat our meals up in the microwave... but dang it was hot today...
I didn't use the oven. I cooked part of our meals in 2 slow cookers, part of them in the microwave, and I scrambled eggs for our breakfasts on the stove. I didn't do any shopping for these meals, I relied solely on what we had in the freezer, pantry, and fridge from weeks past.
I focused on cooking breakfasts that we could heat up at work and then making 4 meals. Three of the meals had 4 servings each. 1 meal had 2 servings. After cooking the meals I portioned them into correct serving sizes in plastic containers. We'll heat them on plates throughout the week and have meals we can take to work, or even use if we need to travel. All we'll need is a microwave to have hot, healthy, correctly portioned meals. I used very simple seasoning and very simply prepared foods.
Because I used the slow cookers the prep time for all these meals was about 7 hours. That doesn't include washing all the dishes afterwards... but overall, I know it will save a lot of time for the rest of this week.
 |
| If I have time, I might make a blueberry cobbler this week! Yum!! |
This Week's Menu:
Monday:
- Breakfast: Carrie's - 2 gluten free waffles, 2 links gf sausage, diced apple, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links of gf sausage
- Lunch: Remaining frozen meals we have from last week
- Dinner: 3 oz. BBQ Beef Short Ribs, 1/2 c. fresh sweet corn, 1 c. steamed broccoli
Tuesday:
- Breakfast: Carrie's - 2 gluten free waffles, 2 links sausage, diced apple, Michael's - a frozen breakfast sandwich
- Lunch: 3 oz. Slow Cooked Turkey, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. green beans
- Dinner: 3 oz. Spiral Ham slices, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. steamed broccoli
Wednesday:
- Breakfast: Carrie's - 2 scrambled eggs, 2 links sausage, diced apple, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links gf sausage
- Lunch: 3 oz. Spiral Ham slices, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. steamed broccoli
- Dinner: 3 oz. Rotisserie Chicken, 1/2 c. fresh sweet corn, 1/2 c. peas & carrots
Thursday:
- Breakfast: Carrie's - 2 gluten free waffles, 2 links gf sausage, diced apple, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links of gf sausage
- Lunch: 3 oz. Rotisserie Chicken, 1/2 c. fresh sweet corn, 1/2 c. peas & carrots
- Dinner: Slow Cooked Turkey, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. green beans
- Delivery Day -- I'll receive 5 days worth of gluten free healthy meals for the next week from Pure Foods, Fresh Start today! Woohoo!!!
Friday:
- Breakfast: Carrie's - 1 c. cooked GF rolled oats with 2 tsp. brown sugar, 1/4 c. dried cranberries, 2 tbsp. sliced almonds, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links of gf sausage
- Lunch: Michael will have lunch at home, Carrie's - prepared meal from Pure Foods/ Fresh Start
- Dinner: Traveling to visit my Dad for the weekend, so dinner on the road...
Update on My Daddy:
I cannot thank you all enough for your thoughts and prayers about my Dad. Right now he is still in very critical condition. He is very slowly making small improvements and I'm thankful that my Daddy is a fighter. I know he wants to live. Right now he is still in a medically induced coma due to all of the equipment he is connected too, and because his body is so weak and needs to heal. He is currently still on a ventilator, continuous dialysis, and a left ventricle assist device (basically a machine that acts as the left ventricle for his heart.) He has a very long road ahead and I would truly appreciate your continued prayers and thoughts. (((((((hugs)))))))))) -- Carrie
Street Foods: Vietnamese Cauli-Fried Rice W/Nước Chấm (Grain Free)
If you've ever had the pleasure of walking through an open street market in some foreign city you know that there is nothing quite like the overwhelming tidal wave that it is to the senses. Brightly decorated little food stands with colorful signs describing their fare. The excited chatter of vendors striking deals and calling in new patrons. Steel scraping hot steel as charred woks barely