more signs of the divine?

Dan and Sara Bell of Texas recently found what they think is the likeness of a praying Jesus inside a bag of Cheetos. Their Holy Puff (nicknamed "Cheesus") is about two inches tall and has a body, hair, robe and even a tiny face -- but, sadly, the right arm is missing.

Hmmm... that makes me question their assumption of divinity. I mean, couldn't "Cheesus" have fixed/healed his right arm?

I think the cheeto isn't a likeness of Jesus, but rather a likeness of the old country man on the Led Zeppelin IV album.




Cheesus picture and full story from here.
Googled the Led Zeppelin album cover.

garden '09

Yesterday afternoon Hubby and I planted our little garden. I had gone to the local farmer's market in the morning and picked up some starter plants: tomatoes, cauliflower, peas, potatoes, and onions. Plus we've got rhubarb from last year. Hmm... That's kind of a weird assortment now that I think about it.

In any event, we had a bluebird that was very happy we were working in the garden because we brought up some earthworms for him to eat. (Click to enlarge)



And here's Marble mentally calculating if he has enough time to make it from the side of the house to the garden before the bird flies off:


(Marble decided, "Nah.")

hooray for the cinnabon people!

I have a soft spot for cinnamon rolls. (Or maybe I'm getting a soft spot because of cinnamon rolls...)

In any event, I heard that Cinnabon is giving away free mini-cinnamon rolls on April 15th. It's their "Tax Day Bites" promotion. (Is that a clever title, or what?!)

Details here!

Because I want a donut...

...I went to Dunkin' Donuts and created one:

It's pumpkin cake with peanut butter icing and pink and orange sprinkles.
Oh yeah.

Actually they are having a contest. If you are the winner, you'll get a tidy sum of money ($12,000 to be exact) and the honor of having your donut creation produced. If you are one of the finalists you get a year's worth of free donuts and $1,200. I think the $1,200 is to help defray the cost of the cholesterol medicine you'll be needing.

You can make your own donut (and enter the contest) here.

what makes monday tolerable...

...is this for breakfast:



A cinnamon roll from Mount Bakery made from croissant dough.
Oh yeah.

Flow Food

Yay! Offspring #2 is home for the weekend, and I made dinner last night in a new category! It definitely wasn't fast food but it certainly wasn't slow food either, so I decided to name the "hybrid" flow food (as in 'go with the flow' I guess!)

Anyway, I ended up making chili in the crock pot, adapted from a recipe I found in the Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly cookbook.

Warning: I am not known for my culinary skills! But this is what I made:

I'll call it Flow Food Chili:

1 1/4 lb. ground buffalo (natural and sustainably raised!) It came from here.
1 -- 27 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 -- 14 1/2 oz. can low-sodium diced tomatoes, undrained
1 -- 14 1/2 oz. can roasted garlic diced tomatoes, undrained
1 -- 8 oz. can tomato sauce (woo hoo! found an organic one!)
1 medium size organic onion, chopped
1 organic green bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. black pepper

1. Brown buffalo in nonstick skillet; sing Home on the Range while doing so.
2. Place in slow cooker.
3. Add all ingredients. Stir.
4. Cover. Cook on high 4 hours or on low 8-10 hours.
5. Garnish individual servings with shredded cheese if you like.

For dessert...
Alden's "Organic All Natural" Vanilla Bean ice cream; topped with fresh blueberries and raspberries from our yard. Alden's is an Oregon company so they are kinda sorta almost local-ish. Here's Hubby with the ice cream and berries:


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Buffalo pic at top taken by me in So. Dak. a couple of summers ago.

fast food bad. slow food good.

I just finished reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (which had been included in my birthday presents from Offsprings #1&2). It was a worthwhile read, a real eye-opener about what we eat, where it comes from, and how it gets to our tables. (I won't bother with a book review because you can read the NYTimes review here.)

Since I'm realistic, I know I won't be making immediate, drastic changes in my eating habits. However, I will definitely be making more of an effort to choose foods where words such as "natural", "organic", "local", and/or "sustainably raised" apply.

Of course part of the trick is making sure those labels are accurate. (Misleading marketing drives me crazy!) Bopping around the internet, I found the Sustainable Table website. You can type in your zip code and find good local resources. So that's a start!

the little garden that could

It's time to plant in our little backyard garden again. It might be because of my Dakota roots (that's my grandma's old chicken coop & chickens) that I really enjoy having a garden -- especially because Hubby does about 95% of the work in it. :) We mostly have tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and peppers.

(photo of Hubby in goofy hat was taken a couple of years ago)

As you can see, our garden is small, but from what I've been reading it sounds like small is better than nuthin'. Check out food routes and local harvest. Here's what I've learned:

Yikes! #1:
Only about 10% of the fossil fuel energy used in the world's food system is used in production; the other 90% goes into packaging, transportation, and marketing. 90%?! Aaaargh!

Yikes! #2:
Most produce in the U.S. is picked 4 to 7 days before being placed on supermarket shelves, and is shipped for an average of 1500 miles before being sold. And this is when taking into account only U.S. grown products! Those distances are substantially longer when we take into consideration produce imported from Mexico, Asia, Canada, and South America.

Yikes! #3:
Only 18 cents of every dollar, when buying at a large supermarket, go to the grower. 82 cents go to various unnecessary middlemen.

So I have renewed respect for our little garden. And I'm going to make more of an effort to buy locally grown food whenever possible. Not only is it better for the environment and local community, but the food should be fresher and tastier too.

m day recap

I always thought Mother's Day was simply about cards and flowers for moms. (Witness the above card I made during elementary school back in the 60's.) This weekend I attended a play with Offspring #1 called Found Peace and learned more about the origins of the day. According to information on the program...

"The first North American Mothers' Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870. Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on mothers to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their sons killing the sons of other mothers. With the Proclamation she called for an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood." (Actually you can read Howe's Proclamation over at Processing Counselor's.)

The play was a collection of scenes dealing with the futility of war and the power of words to create healing and peace. My favorite scene was entitled "Letters Home" which was crafted from real letters from an American soldier in Iraq. Giving these letters an actual face and voice "brought the message home" in a powerful way.

Offspring #2 isn't a theatre-going kind of guy, so we bonded later over Really Big Burritos:

Pumpkin/Apple Friday Five!

All Hallows Eve (Halloween) is near, and this week's Friday Five looks at the holiday with some food ideas thrown in for good measure.

1. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child?
We always went trick-or-treating. (Mrs. Steinhaus a few houses down the street made the best popcorn balls!) Here's a picture of my brother and me in our costumes one year.


2. Do you and/or your family “celebrate” Halloween? Why or why not? And if you do, has it changed from what you used to do?
Offsprings #1 and #2 always enjoyed trick-or-treating when they were growing up too. We live in a safe, "trick-or-treating friendly" neighborhood. Here's a picture of Offsprings #1 and #2 in their costumes one year.


2. Candy apples: Do you prefer red cinnamon or caramel covered? Or something else?
Caramel all the way!

3. Pumpkins: Do you make Jack O’ Lanterns? Any ideas of what else to do with them?
We carve jack o' lanterns, and Hubby roasts the seeds.

4. Do you decorate your home for fall or Halloween? If so, what do you do? Bonus points for pictures.
We usually decorate, but this is our first year of the "empty nest" so I got lazy.

5. Do you like pretending to be something different? Does a costume bring out an alternate personality?
Hmm... I enjoy wearing costumes (e.g. to a party), but I wouldn't go so far as to say it brings out any alternate personality -- I'm not that great of an actor!

Bonus: Share your favorite recipe for an autumn food, particularly apple or pumpkin ones.
In honor of Mrs. Steinhaus, here is a recipe for popcorn balls!
2/3 cup Karo Syrup
2/3 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
8-10 cups Popped Corn
Cook sugar, syrup, and salt for two minutes and mix with corn. Form into balls with buttered hands and individually wrap.

Friday Five: Homage to the Top Chef!

This week's Friday Five deals with food! Here we go:

If you were a food, what would you be?
I'll say Thanksgiving turkey because you can depend on it to be there, and it has something really good on the inside (the stuffing). Also, it can often be a little dry (not unlike my sense of humor). :)

What is one of the most memorable meals you ever had? And where?
One of the most memorable meals took place several years ago at a cool Chinese restaurant called Miss Kitty's in Deadwood, South Dakota. My family was visiting relatives in the Black Hills and so many people who are 'near and dear' to me (including my grandmother who has since passed away) were able to be there.


What is your favorite comfort food from childhood?
I'd have to go with either my grandmother's chicken noodle soup or her roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. Yum yum yum.

When going to a church potluck, what one recipe from your kitchen is sure to be a hit?
When going to a church potluck, NO recipe of mine is sure to be a hit. I'm not the world's best cook. However, I'd probably choose a recipe from the "Fix it and Forget It" crockpot cookbook and hope for the best. :)

What’s the strangest thing you ever willingly ate?
Chocolate covered grasshoppers which my brother bought from a delicatessen when we were kids for the shock value. They were weird and crunchy.

Bonus question: What’s your favorite drink to order when looking forward to a great meal?
I like a glass of Hefeweizen, a German wheat beer.

blissfully bloggin' 'bout the breakfast berries

Ah, it is good to have both Offspring #1 and Offspring #2 home this weekend. Next weekend is the big move-in extravaganza at college. Sniffle. But we won't think about that for now. :)

Anyway, Offspring #1 picked these raspberries from our garden this morning for breakfast. We are having a bumper crop of berries this year... along with some terrific tomatoes and prodigious pumpkins. (OK, I'll stop with the alliteration now.)

I'm thinking about trying this smoothie recipe later:

Rasberry Smoothie
1 medium banana
1 cup of red raspberries
1/2 cup of yogurt
1/2 cup of ice

Blend all ingredients. Pour in glass. Take in backyard. Sip while admiring garden. Ignore weeds and lawn that needs mowing.