To A Healthier Diet: Quinoa and Sprouts

My family's made a conscious decision and full effort to eat healthier along with a new dedication to consuming less processed foodstuffs (are they really food by any logical definition?) and more fresh foods. This also means cooking more from scratch and from healthier, fresh food items. This week we discovered Quinoa (KEEN-wa), a grain-like crop grown for its edible seeds.



I have to say, quinoa makes a pretty tasty dish when combined with other proteins and some spices! On Sunday I made vegan quinoa and black beans. Yum!



The taste of the dish is southwestern due to the cilantro and lime juice, but it's very reminiscent of Cuban dishes, as the spice taste isn't overpowering, but rather, it's balanced with the cilantro and lime. The quinoa acted as a thickener to an extent, but the dish is high fiber, high protein, vegan, and pretty healthy! I will definitely make it again, and it'll be a regular dish on our table.

AND! I decided I would begin growing my own bean sprouts. Started out this week with alfalfa sprouts. Super easy!! Look at my crop! I think it has a couple of more days until it's done. Does this mean I'm a farmer??
From this
to this

in 3 days!!

My Laptop Wireless Network Card Died

My wireless won't work, but the wired internet works.
I think I have gone back in time and entered the wireless network vortex from which no one emerges unscathed. At least, not if they're attempting to connect TO THE INTERNET.

The computer industry is the replacement for the automobile industry. It's bad enough that cars have to be replaced more often than intimate wear, now computers are taking the same route.



Fortunately for me I have my own Personal Network Administrator and Hardware Engineer (tm) to take care of these things. Unfortunately, it involves about 5,280 times as many things as just a wireless network card. *sigh*

Happy Ending: My PNA&HE installed Windows 7 and the problem resolved. Hurray!

My son's 20th (!!) birthday was yesterday. To celebrate his leaving behind his teenage years and entering into the formality of being a 20-something, I decided to make a non-traditional birthday cake. So I made him a pineapple-coconut upside down cake. The recipe makes two cakes (1 layer each) and were so good. The recipe also calls for yellow cake mix and sour cream, but instead I used carrot cake mix and vanilla yogurt. It was SO delicious! I'm not a coconut person but this topping is addictively good.


1 BettyCrocker yellow cake mix (I used carrot cake mix)
3 whole eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup vanilla lowfat yogurt
4 bananas sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, divided
2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 (8 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
* With an electric mixer, beat cake mix, eggs, oil, and yogurt on low until combined. Beat on high for 2 minutes.
* Place banana slices evenly on the bottom of the two cake pans.
* In a small saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar and lemon juice and heat until dissolved. Pour half of the brown sugar mixture into each of the 2 round cake pans over the bananas. Sprinkle coconut over brown sugar sauce.
* Pour cake batter on top of the coconut into the two pans, dividing equally. The batter is thick. If you have difficulty spreading it, try turning the pan as you hold your spatula still.
* Bake 35 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Invert onto serving dishes. Slice to serve.

If you use sour cream (1/2 cup) instead of yogurt you will have to reduce the oil to 1/4 cup and add 1/2 cup of water.

Happy Friday, y'all! Shabbat Shalom!

Looks like the Baptist school up the road's about to get some unwanted bad publicity.

On Thursday morning a former Wake Forest student will appear on NBC’s The Today Show to talk about an alleged sexual assault. According to the Wake Forest fan blog Blogger So Dear, the student will claim that she was raped by two members of the Wake Forest basketball team in 2009. The alleged incident occurred in Miami, Florida the night before the basketball team was set to play Cleveland State in the in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. They lost to Cleveland State, 84-69.

This is an extremely serious accusation, and the fact that this young woman is going on national television to tell her story is huge. But there are two sides to every story and hopefully everyone has learned from the whole Duke Lacrosse case not to rush to judgement (sic), and no player has been named. However, if this turns out to be true….we will just have to wait and see what happens.

That team started off 16-0 and was ranked number one at one point during the year before collapsing at the end of the season. Dino Gaudio was fired as head coach a year later.

Every parent's nightmare!

Side note: If Gaudio's firing had anything to do with this, I can only say, "Take a hint, UNx (and Butch Davis)."