Surprisingly warm weekend, quiet Saturday, cooking, cat

What a great day! The morning dawned glowing and warm and it only got better. I walked around the yard at dawn taking photos of the beautiful yard and sunrise.

Then my bible reading today took me through Genesis 31 and Martyn Lloyd Jones definitely lived up to his nickname 'Logic On Fire' in his exposition of Acts 5, the judicial killing of Ananias and Sapphira and the church's reaction to it. What a tremendous preacher is was. I listen on Expositor.fm but his sermons are all available at mljtrust.org.

Cooking today (while listening to Hank Williams cowboy yodeling) yielded mango-cantaloupe smoothie, black bean dip with roasted garlic and cilantro, broccoli-mushroom casserole, and Mexican one-pan quinoa chili.

Now relaxing with making photo verses to post through the week and I'm about to watch Interstellar in a moment. The perfect day of unwinding after a terrible week.

My car broke down and it turned out I needed a new radiator. Rats, and right before Christmas too.

My cat that was very sick died last Monday. I was glad I had opportunity to spend a last weekend with him. The photo below was him sitting next to me while I worked at the laptop on his last day of life. He was a cuddle bunny for sure and loving and a perfect cat. The house has been very quiet without him. Luke will be missed.

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Further reading

Why do Autistic people like cats?

 

Follow up to crock pot cooking: sweet potatoes-quinoa patties

A couple of days ago I posted an essay about 23 crock pot recipes for Thanksgiving. I'd said I'd tried the one where you put whole sweet potatoes in the crock and cook them. It couldn't be easier. I cooked 7 sweet potatoes, which left me a lot of potatoes to eat.

So today I looked up sweet potato recipes. I found this one and I liked it because it uses quinoa. Quinoa is a super grain because it is high in protein and lacks gluten. Just how much protein is in quinoa? Wikipedia says (as do most other nutrition sites)- "Quinoa grain has been called a superfood...Nutritional evaluations indicate that quinoa is a source of complete protein. Protein content is very high for a cereal/pseudo-cereal (14% by mass), but not as high as most beans and legumes. The protein content per 100 calories is higher than brown rice, potatoes, barley and millet, but is less than wild rice and oats."

Source

"While no single food can supply all the essential life sustaining nutrients, quinoa comes as close as any other in the plant or animal kingdom." (source)

I bought 50 pounds of red quinoa a few years ago and have stored it in the freezer. I have no idea if that was a good or bad thing to do, but it doesn't have appeared to alter the taste any. I bought the red quinoa variety.

So here are a few pics of the process of making sweet-potato quinoa patties:

Boil your quinoa. I always make extra. I use it for breakfast cereal too. Or salads. Quinoa does not take long to cook. About ten to fifteen minutes for a cup. It is done when the white coil springs out from the grain or when it is al dente-to-soft, depending on your own preference.

Chop onions and saute. Can use scallions instead if you want. I used half a small onion.

Mash your potatoes. The crock pot cooking meant that the potatoes' skin separated easily from the meat so I peeled them in just a very few moments. I used 2 medium sweet potatoes.

Add salt, a beaten egg, and a few tablespoons of flour. Add the quinoa. I eyeballed the flour and quinoa ratio. Not so wet they'd fall apart and not so dry they'd become hockey pucks.

Drop by large tablespoon and flatten a bit. Saute in hot oil. I used just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Turn when cooked through and golden brown on the bottom. Flatten a bit again. Dry on paper towels. Oops, where did one of them go? In my tummy!

With two medium-ish sweet potatoes and about a quarter cup of quinoa I made 11 patties.

The potatoes were on sale for 38 cents around so that was a frugal deal. I'd bought the quinoa in bulk so that was a good deal also. Having a healthy patty already cooked and in the fridge means I have a healthy side dish, meal, or snack to eat when I want to nosh.

It's all good!

Quinoa stuffed peppers

What a wonderful day! It was cold and rainy but that did not deter me one bit. I straightened up and prepared a wonderful breakfast. I don't know which I enjoy more: Friday night collapse in front of the TV, or leisurely Saturday morning brunch. Both, I guess!

I made a scrambled egg with cheese, home fries and rosemary artisan bread toast with homemade blackberry jam. Coffee with French vanilla cream. Sound wonderful? It was!

I love to clean up the kitchen while listening to a lecture or a sermon. It gives my brain freedom to listen while my hands are working. Today I listened to the third-to last lecture in a 72-part series on Spiritual discernment.

After cleaning up from breakfast, the kitchen-fest continues. I like to cook a bunch for the weekend and the beginning of the week. Today I made sauteed yellow squash with onions and tomatoes. In the oven I placed a pan of red potatoes and a pan of carrots and corn to roast. And best of all, I tried a new recipe. This one was stuffed peppers with quinoa, feta, raisins, onions and nuts. yum, yum, it came out better than I could have thought. It tasted wonderful! Here is a photo:

Friday as I led the kindergarten kids to their place where they get picked up to go home, one boy was telling me that he was excited to be headed to Toys R Us after school. I exclaimed that was indeed a fun trip. Then he said that they were also going to Babies R Us. I said, "Is there a baby in your family?" He said "No,  that's where you go to GET a baby."

Tomorrow is supposed to be 67 degrees and sunny again. That will be nice. But you know what? Every day is nice. It's all good.

My home internet's still down

I've been writing about how lovely our county is, how rural, pretty, and farm-oriented. Below, the scene next door to where my friend lives. It's what I see when I pull up to her house.

I took a trip into Athens yesterday on a search for quinoa . Quinoa ia a healthy protein alternative to meat and fish. There is a huge protein bang for the buck in this South American Super Grain. Anyway, the health food store is just a few doors from from the Five Points Fire Station. Pretty, isn't it? Even the city around here is nice.

The red bulldog, of course, is the UGA football mascot