Mom's Homemade Granola

My mom has never been much of a cook so it surprised me when one day she wanted me to find her a recipe for homemade granola. I sent her the first one I had seen in Recipes for Life from God's Garden by Rhonda J. Malkmus. After doing her own adjusting and tweaking she called me to tell me it turned out great and that even Dad loved it! So naturally she whipped up a batch for me and this granola is really like none other. It has become her little treat to me and she always sends the bags with lots of love :)

Mom's Homemade Granola

4 or 5 C old fashioned rolled oats

1 C oat bran

1/2 C sesame seeds

3/4 C raw sunflower seeds

1/2 C almonds, chopped

3/4 C flax seeds

In a separate bowl mix following:

1/3 C raw, unfiltered honey

2 t vanilla

1/3 C freshly made apple juice

Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients, stir and lay in a glass oven dish. Bake at 300 degrees for an hour stirring every 15 minutes or so. Let cool, then add in 1/2 C raisens.

Easter Cookies

Nan and I had a great Easter, simply relaxing around the house and enjoying each others presence. We started our off by going to church Water of Life and then decided that we were just going to hang around the house today. The pastor at WOL had a great sense of humor and somehow he puts everything in such a way that makes so much sense. This morning he said, "And what do I come here every week to tell you, that God is crazy about you!" I just love the way he put it and it goes perfectly with the book I am currently reading, Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

The truth about God's enduring love is astounding. It struck me while I was baking my Easter cookies and she was sitting at the table reading the paper. We barely spoke at all but it was just so nice to be with her. We so often have days like this and it really made me realize how much God just simply loves to be with us. That so often we "spend time with Jesus" praying or reading our Bibles, which are essential aspects of faith but how much does he love to be invited into just simply being with us. Who are we to be so loved that the God of the universe wants to be with us in our minuscule day to day tasks? Who am I that He wants to sit with me while I bake cookies? I am awed by that love, a love that is greater than life itself. A love that is relentless and so overwhelming it causes you to love him back and give him your life. That is one of Francis Chan's main points, that only out of a true love for God can we exercise a faith that is pleasing to him. I believe that love stems from revelation into how much God really does love you simply because you are you :)

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." 1 John 3:16

Hope you had blessed Easter! Here are those cookies I was talking about.



Cashew Lemon Thumbprint Cookies

2 C oat flour
1 C finely ground cashews
1/4 t salt
1/4-1/2 C lemon
1/4 agave syrup
1 t vanilla extract
any flavored fruit extract, I used raspberry, grape, and orange

Add the dry ingredients; flour, cashews and salt together and mix. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredient; lemon, agave and vanilla. Then slowly fold wet into the dry ingredients and mix together. The mixture should be very thick and doughy. Then roll into spoon size balls, flatten and using your thumb make a whole (not all the way through) in the middle to place the jelly. Spoon the jelly into the wholes. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Split Pea Soup

After running around all day with my Nan I decided we would make my favorite Split Pea Soup for dinner. She chopped all the veggies while I prepared the peas and spices. It was that easy. We left it simmering on the stove for two hours and wallah! My Nan loved it too! So simple, yet so delicious, you must try it!

Split Pea Soup

2 cups split peas
10 cups of water, less if you want it thick
2 small yellow onions
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp marjoram
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt

Combine everything in a large pot over the stove. Bring to a boil, then simmer for two hours stirring every 15 or so minutes. Freezes great too as this makes a lot of soup :)

Two New Raw Salads

Hello Hello Hello! It has been so long since Bianca and I posted we are so sorry and we promise to be better about blogging. We were actually just listening to Holly Becker, a professional blogger give an interview about her blog, decor8. If you haven't checked it out be sure to she has some beautiful pictures, I'm sure Bianca has mentioned it before. Anyways, Holly mentioned how key it is to be consistent and at least post once a week on the same day so your followers know when to check up on your blog. Taking advice from a someone more experienced I'm going to commit to blogging every Monday night. And of course, if there's more going on that week I will add more but Tuesdays will be a great day to view the blog and not be disappointed :)

While at home, I realized my grandparents had given me this cookbook a couple years back that I kinda shoved off but now I love it! It's called How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman and is so great because it goes through every vegetable, fruit grain, etc and talks about the best ways to eat it or cook it and then lists a few recipes using it. It's fabulous! I really love it because it always lists numerous variations of the recipe and with a fridge full of veggies your bound to have the necessary ingredients for one of them. I made one of the versions of the Raw Beet Salad. It was very refreshing and looked very pretty. Of course, don't this if you don't like beets, a lot :)















Raw Beet Salad with Carrot and Ginger
5 small red beets
1 large carrot
1 medium shallot
1 t dijon mustard
1 T fresh ginger
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
lemon
pepper and salt

In a food processor chop the beets, carrots, shallot, and ginger. Add the cilantro, dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Fresh lemon to taste.

Another salad that I love making is similar in how its prepared but instead of beets you use parsnips. I had never had parsnips before I started using them to make this recipe but now I love them.
















Parsnip Salad
6 or so small parsnips
1 large carrot
3 T chopped red onion
1/4 C chopped parsley
1-2 T salad dressing or veganese (I used Rhonda's Raw Salad Dressing from the Hallelujah Diet)
1/2 lemon juiced fresh

In a food processor, combine parsnips and carrot and pulse. Once chopped well toss in a bowl with parsley, onion and dressing. Squeeze fresh lemon over top. Enjoy!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

When Bianca first introduced these to me I knew there were going to be a favorite. Sure enough, I crave them almost every week. They're simple, cheap, fun and satisfying! Just dip the rice paper in water, take it out, wait for it to soften, layer with all the fresh ingredients, roll it up, and enjoy with peanut dipping sauce! People are always intrigued by what we are doing when we make this and always want a try.

For the Spring Rolls
Traditional Ingredients:
Rice Paper
Vermicelli Noodles
Mung Bean Sprouts
Carrots, shredded
Fresh cilantro, basil, mint
Scallions, diced
Lettuce, thinly sliced
**Optional Ingredients:
Avocado
Ginger
For the Peanut Sauce
Ingredients:
Peanuts, raw is best
Hoisen Sauce

The rice paper and vermicelli noodles will probably need to be bought at your local Asian market. The noddles just need to be boiled for about 2-3 minutes. For the peanut sauce, toast the peanuts on a skillet til there golden brown, then throw in a food processor with hoisin sauce. There's no need for measurements here just use about a handful nuts and add the hoisin til it's creamy. There also delicious dipped in soy sauce!

Food, Fellowship, Flowers and Farmer's

We truly had a blessed weekend of "breaking bread" with family and in taking pleasure in the joy of real, honest fellowship with one another. Friday was our dinner with the boys and then on Sunday at IVC we had "Ladies Night". While the men went out for pizza all the ladies stayed behind for a special dinner of home made dishes. It was a great time to meet with the woman of IVC and love on each other.

The Quinoa, Lentil, Coconut Stew Bianca mentioned that we had on Friday at the family dinner recipe was taken from a blog I am a fan of; Two Blue Lemons. Here is the link: http://www.twobluelemons.com/2009/06/coconut-quinoa-stew.html. Enjoy!

Also, this weekend, though we had rain on Saturday our pot of daffodils came into full bloom bringing in the Spring! Annalisa's mom, whom Bianca and I just adore planted a whole pot of daffodils for us, there must be at least fifteen of them! They came to us after President's Day weekend with strict orders not to be watered by both Annalisa and I, so they would not end up drowning. I have the joy of watering them with our other plants and watching slowly as one by one they begin blooming. They are just so beautiful, thank you so much Cathy!



For our usual Sabbath outing we browse the Farmer's and get all our weeks produce. Lina and Marissa have ventured into the world of whole, raw and delicious foods and joined us this week to find out all the best deals. It's so great to have a whole crew now. At one of the Asian vegetable stands they had purple sweet potatoes- solid purple all the way through! Lindsay had gotten one at the beginning of the year and I had been waiting to see them there again! We also stopped by another of our favorite places, the Oriental Market near Camino Real to pick up the ingredients for Vietnamese Spring Rolls that Bianca learned how to make from a friend. These are the real deal, look for out for a post this week.



It's so funny to see us pull up from the Farmer's, between Lindsay, Bianca and I we usually have about 6 or 7 bags full of green vegetables, fruits and flowers. Then we pile into the kitchen to unload and our fridges begin to look as if a garden was growing! It's crazy how fast it all goes and by the end of the week we're always scrounging to make something out of whatever we have left.

Now, the weekends over and here we are starting out dead week. Only one more week til finals and then back to Santa Cruz!

Family Dinner

We have started a new tradition where on Friday nights we have a family dinner with our house of girls and with the guys downstairs and next door. Last night we all brought our own food and had a lovely time together, while taking bites of the variety of delectable creations including Mallory's swedish pancakes, Annalisa's sausage pasta, Clay's chicken bake with carrots and yogurt (interesting combo), some crazy, amazing Armenian dish that Daniel's grandma made, and our sweet potato, coconut, quinoa dish. Hopefully, Dani will post the recipe because it is fantastic. We ended up playing a round of charades (girls vs. boys) where we sadly lost when Clay won the tie-breaker by acting out "spider monkey" to a tee. Funny thing is Clay has never even played charades before yet he took the win for his team...beginners luck if I've ever seen it. We finished the night singing and worshipping the Lord in the prayer shed. It was truly a blessed evening. Below are some pictures that Annalisa took of our food. Love you all!