This recipe is fabulous for those on a Specific Carbohydrate, vegetarian, gluten-, or dairy-free diet as well as anyone who loves mushrooms. My family is wild about them and they’re a great appetizer to serve for the holidays.
Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
Serves 6, but I cut in half to serve 12 3 T. olive oil 6 large portabella mushrooms, stems removed (finely chop 1/2 cup stems and reserve) 1-2 T. red dry wine 2 med. Onions diced 2 cloves garlic minced 2 T. Chopped fresh rosemary or 2 t. dried 1 med. yellow bell pepper, diced (replace with green bell pepper to make it Christmasy!) 1 med. red bell pepper diced 1 T. wine vinegar salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl mix 2 T. oil and salt and pepper. Rub mushroom caps in mixture. Place on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside. Reduce oven to 300. In a large skillet heat remaining T.’s oil over med-high heat. Add wine onions garlic rosemary. Cook stirring often until onions are soft about 5 mins. Add bell peppers and reserved chopped mushroom stems and cook, stirring often about 5 mins. Stir in vinegar and salt. Reduce heat to low and cook stirring occasionally, 10 mins. Reduce from heat and let cool slightly. Fill mushroom caps with mixture and place on baking sheet. Just before serving bake until heated through about 10 mins.
More than a year ago my husband called me from working out of town to tell me that he’d just seen a movie in the theaters that was all about God. He couldn’t stop talking about the movie called Facing the Giants–a low-budget film produced by a church in Georgia not much larger than our own. Our whole family enjoyed it and gladly overlooked the less-than-Oscar quality acting.
When I heard the church had produced its second film, I knew I would see it, but honestly my expectations weren’t high. I guess I was thinking “The sequel is never as good.” Even when all the emails came pouring in encouraging me to see it, I wasn’t thinking it was going to be great. I was happy when a friend invited me to see the movie through her church for just $5 and happier still when her church provided FREE childcare for all six of my children AND dinner! But again, to be honest, I was thinking that all of that to see a sappy, poorly acted movie would make it that much more disappointing. Sorry! I was just in a mood yesterday. LOL
Then I saw it and I was blown away. Yes, there are still some less-than-Oscar-quality moments. But I would give it more stars than offered on any chart. I hesitate to write that knowing that now your expectations will be TOO high and you WILL be disappointed. So let me say this. It’s funny. It’s touching. It’s real. And to top it off, the church who provided the $5 tickets also gave us a free book to go along with the movie. I won’t elaborate on the book or it will ruin the movie for you. If you are a married Christian or someone who is not a believer who is ready to try anything to save your marriage, you will WANT this book. The church is also offering a Fireproof Bible study for couples–a product that uses the movie to help couples get their marriages on track. I couldn’t be more impressed by the resources that have been put together to help save marriages. As someone who has worked for many years to help married couples, I am very moved by how God has used a little church in Georgia to do a mighty work.
See the movie. Recommend it to your friends. After all, you can offend people by recommending therapy. But who is ever offended by a movie recommendation?
I have made my own milk when I nursed six babies, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about. I haven't had any kind of milk to drink for seven years. I quit drinking regular milk when I was 17 and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. The doctor advised me to "avoid dairy" so I was drinking soy milk for many years. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet prohibits soy products and none of the commercial almond milks are legal because of the added sugar. So when I got an ad from Digestive Wellness for this SoyQuick milk maker that can be used to make almond milk, I was excited to try it. Yes, you can make homemade almond milk without a fancy gadget, but it is SO quick and easy to make, I feel it's worth it. I now have "cereal" with almond milk on dried mulberries and other dried and fresh fruit. It's wonderful! My son drinks soy milk and I haven't tried making my own soy milk yet. I'm very ambivalent about him drinking soy milk and have wondered if he would be okay switching to lactose-free milk. If I try it, I'm sure I would save a lot of money. A half-gallon of soy milk is over $3. With the price of groceries and the number of food-related health problems going up, it may be time to consider making more of your own food.
It all started when my then 11yo son asked me why I didn't have an IPod. I told him I would get an IPod when they made it a phone, too. He said, "They have that!" He proceeded to show me the Steve Jobs video unveiling the original IPhone. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a technology junkie. I was hooked and counted the days until the IPhone would be released. Waiting is not my strong suit, so it wasn't a good thing that it wasn't due to be released for several months after I saw the video. I was dreaming about it. Then I had the problem of my cell phone contract not being up. The June 2007 release date came and went and I had no IPhone. My next problem was that my husband is NOT a technology junkie. Convincing him that this was something that I "needed" was a challenge. I begged him to buy me one for Christmas and then I was losing sleep worried that he'd gotten me a plain ole IPod instead, thinking that it was "cheaper" and "just as good." But he surprised me and I was ECSTATIC to get an Iphone last Christmas Day!
Since then, I have counted the ways the IPhone has changed my life. Now don't get me wrong. No one NEEDS an IPhone. If you are struggling to make ends meet, know that I've been there. Even more thrilling than an IPhone is not having to use a cash advance from one credit card to pay off another and wondering when the next check will come bouncing back to you! Everything an IPhone can do, you can do for free or next to nothing the old fashioned way. So if money is tight, forget the IPhone! You don't need one. But if you are in the market for an IPod and/or cell phone and/or PDA, read on.
A girlfriend of mine once told me that wearing thong underwear would change my life. It did for the few minutes that I could tolerate the feeling of having meat stuck between my teeth being extended to my nether region. The IPhone is not like that. Here are all the reasons I thank God for IPhone:
1) Email device – I can keep up with email anywhere!
2) MP3 player – I can listen to my music during workouts.
3) Song name determiner – With Shazam, I just put it next to the music and it immediately tells me the name of the song, album, artist, etc. and links me to ITunes to buy it.
4) Babysitter – I have downloaded a few games, kids' shows and movies to keep the kids from screaming and hitting each other in the waiting room. Turn taking continues to be a problem, however!
5) Workout logger – To do my first Body for Life challenge, I had to carry paper and pen. No more! I take Gyminee with me.
6) Grocery List – I use SplashShopper and Tasty Planner and I'm ready to shop!
7) Chore Timer – The kids are timed doing their chores every day and they earn privileges based on their ranking for the week. I use the IPhone's built in timer to track their times.
8) Allowance Keeper – I use the Spend app to set up a "budget" for each child. The program automatically adds their weekly allowance. When a child makes a purchase, I can deduct the amount on the spot. No more trying to remember and kids losing the actual money.
9) Calendar – I sync iCal with Google calendar so I can make changes to my calendar from my IPhone or from any computer connected to the Internet. This distractible woman loves being able to use alarms or text messages to remind me to do just about anything!
10) To Do list – I use Mark Forster's Do It Tomorrow approach to task management and use Cultured Code's Things to keep tasks in order. I've tried lots of different approaches and right now this is my favorite. I will blog more about DIT in the future.
11) Bible – When I am on the go and even when I am not, I use the free Bible application on my IPhone to quickly look up verses.
12) Reader – I can keep up with all my blogs much better having them on Google Reader on my IPhone. I have read half a free book on my IPhone, too, but it's not as appealing as real books so far.
13) Radio – I love being able to choose any genre of free music to suit my mood. I can put Christian music on to listen to while I'm doing devotions, for example.
14) News – I wish I had time to watch TV news or read the paper. I don't! My dh keeps me informed and when he doesn't, I can check into what's going on with the vSNAX app on my IPhone.
15) Photo Album – No longer do I have to say, "Oh I'll have to show you that photo sometime." I can keep all my most recent or favorite photos or even scrapbook pages on my IPhone. What's more is I can share home videos, too!
16) Weather Center – I used to spend a lot of time trying to time the news just right to catch the weather. Even the weather channel was a challenge! Now I just click on the native weather app or WeatherBug on my IPhone and I know right away what to expect this week.
17) White and Yellow Pages on the go – Can't tell you how many times I have used this. For example, I've quickly looked up restaurants, called them by tapping the number, and gotten directions pronto!
18) Navigator – I am map challenged, so having the ability to toggle between a GPS-enabled map and a list of directions has saved me more times than I care to say. I'm actually glad the thing can't talk to me because I wouldn't want to hear it!
19) Connector – Being able to quickly touch base via Facebook, Twitter, and AIM helps me feel as though I am not neglecting friends and family despite my very busy lifestyle.
20) Remote – I connected my computer's ITunes to the older whole-house speaker system we have. Using my IPhone I can control the music and even the volume that's playing throughout the house. If only I could control the kids with it!
21) Countdown keeper – If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked, "How many days til my birthday?" I would be only a little consoled. But at least I have Ticker, an IPhone app that keeps track of all of that for me!
22) Note taker – I can add text, audio, and photo notes via multiple applications and store them online. For example, I have used the built-in-camera to record my parking space in a garage and I have recorded my Bible memory verses in notes.
23) Camera – Yes, it's only 2MP, but it does in a pinch! No more fretting about not having a camera.
24) Flashlight – I get up to workout while it's still dark and my dh is sometimes sleeping. I use the light from my IPhone to find my way to the bathroom without injuring myself BEFORE I get to the gym.
25) Question Answerer – While in the middle of homeschooling or just about anywhere people ask a question that I don't know the answer to, I whip out my IPhone and in a few Google seconds, I know! This morning, we wondered why dogs roll in stinky things. (Answer: To make you crazy. 😉
Okay, I will be blogging all night if I don't limit myself to a quick honorable mention to the rest of the things my IPhone does for me: calculator, stock price checker, alarm clock, address book, dictionary and scrabble word checker, exercise interval timer, movie previewer, ebay broker, speech timer and recorder, bank teller, restaurant chooser, external hard drive via airsharing and datacase, mobile blogger, price checker, checklist, foreign language dictionary, portable movie player, and online shopping cart.
If you have an IPhone, comment and tell me any other ways you use your IPhone. If you don't and you're in the market for one, what are you waiting for? Get to an Apple or AT&T store!
I have to admit that I am afraid of the toddler paint combination. You've probably seen those horrible photos that get sent around the 'net of the kids who dumped interior latex all over the leather furniture and television. That doesn't help my phobia at all!
When I turned 40 (please don't think that was a long time ago!), I determined to stop living in fear. After all, the Bible is full of Fear Nots. Giving in to fear is actually sin because we are not trusting our Super Power God to handle things. Or we trust Him to handle things; we just don't like the things He has planned! So in the spirit of fearing not, I let the kids use the second most terrifying kind of paint (house paint still takes first prize). And nothing big happened. Yet. The kids just played and didn't get it in their hair, on their clothes, or on me. But I must mention that I store the finger paints right next to the leftover latex. Will they follow the rules and not use the paint without Mommy? Let's hope so.
Until then, join me in declaring a Fear Not zone. Do something you've always been afraid to do and trust the Super Power to come to the rescue if you get into a mess.
Thank you to everyone who checked out my Body for Life before-and-after photos and thank you especially to anyone who told me they were inspired to embark on their own Body for Life journey. Seeing others succeed is the most satisfying reward for me!
I have taken a week off from eating and exercising the Body for Life way and I’m really glad I did–perhaps not for the reason you think! I got a chance to remember how bloated and fat and blah I felt! One of the really big changes I made doing BFL that I didn’t mention in last week’s post was drinking 10-11 glasses of water a day. I wasn’t doing that this week and I woke up in the morning dry as the desert. It wasn’t a good feeling. This week I got my food cravings out of the way. I made SCD-compliant blueberry pie, lemon freeze, lots of crepes, and Avalanche ice cream. I can’t say enough wonderful things about my new Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet cookbook by Jodi Bager and Jenny Lass. If I could kiss these ladies, I would!! Their recipes are certainly a gift. BUT, I am ready to eat less fat and sugar than I’ve been consuming and enjoy that just one day a week.
I am excited to start using Gyminee on my Iphone to track my workouts. I always have my IPhone with me to listen to music anyway, so recording my weights and repetitions on it will be very convenient–I hope! I’ll let you know what I think. I also downloaded Interval Timer for the IPhone. I don’t know how useful it will be to time my rest periods between weight lifting sets, but it will be great for times when I am walking/running for cardio in the neighborhood.
If you’ve been taking a break from any kind of routine that really works for you, why don’t you join me in returning to it this week? If you join Gyminee, I’d be honored to have you for a GymBuddy. My name is melphd.
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
