Vegan Cuisine: Sauteed collard greens with tomatoes and red beans

Greens & Beans.05.26.10.jpg

Vegan: Sauteed collard greens with tomatoes and red beans

As I mentioned in my cravings post, I’ve been craving more greens than normal. This morning I went out into the garden and picked about 4 cups of collard greens.

I have about 3/4 acre of garden, and enjoy eating regular produce during the harvesting seasons.

In the above picture you might not be able to even see the red beans. The tomatoes got in the way. 🙂 I love colorful dishes, and I definitely had that going on with this simple but delicious meal.

I don’t purchase canned beans. I prefer using the dried beans. I soak and cook a large batch of beans at once. In doing this, the beans tend to last me throughout the week. I just put the beans I’m not going to use in my Pyrex glass storage containers (I don’t use plastic storage containers) pop them in the refrigerator or freezer and bring them out when I’m ready to use them.

Did the overabundance of greens satisfy my greens craving? No, I’ll be picking more greens later today (for some green smoothies.) Tomorrow morning, I’m sure I’ll be picking more collards or kale to add to whatever dish I decide to prepare.

Technorati Tags:
Vegan, vegetarian, Recipe

WordPress: Tweaking my WP Theme & publishing with MarsEdit

wordpress-logo.05.26.10.png It’s been a while since I’ve played around with WordPress. The main thing I enjoyed about using WordPress with my own hosting provider was that I had so many more themes to choose. I always enjoyed tweaking my chosen WP theme to fit my personal tastes.

I love WordPress
I’m a huge fan of WordPress. WordPress wasn’t the first application I’ve tried.Quite a few years ago, when I started using an actual blogging program I chose Blogger. I dropped it the same day since I really didn’t like it. I chose Typepad and stayed with them for about six months before deciding to try WordPress with my Web hosting provider. WordPress was one of the available blogging applications that was built right in. Only thing I needed to do was activate it. I guess you could say, the rest is history.

Thanks to freelance-writing, I’ve had a chance to check out a few other blogging software applications, and although they are amazing. I still prefer WordPress.

Regarding posting to WordPress, I don’t actually post in WordPress. I use an offline blog editor called MarsEdit. The software application was created by Daniel Jalkut, the few times I had questions regarding the application he’s always been helpful and so I had no problems paying for is application.

In my opinion, If you enjoy blogging an offline editor should be added to your list, MarsEdit is made exclusively for Mac computers. The majority of my computer work is done on Mac computers. My favorite Apple computer is my 17″ MacBook Pro. Regarding offline blogging editors, I really enjoy that convenience. I’m not always online when I’m on one of my computers and besides, quite a few of my posts aren’t automatically published after I complete them.

Regarding this blog, I sort of like the theme I’ve selected here but…. I still have some adjustments I need to make before I’m enjoying it completely. 🙂 Anyway, I’m thinking about swapping the header and putting a personalized header in it’s place. My daughter likes pink, and so I decided to go with her suggestion and have pink somewhere on this website. I know she’ll be reading what mommy writes (occasionally) seeing the pink will make her happy. 🙂

Well, it’s time for me to crack open my WordPress for Dummies book, I need to brush up on a few things. 😉

Technorati Tags:
freelance jobs, MacBook Pro, WordPress

Cravings: Mango Ginger Fruit Pudding; Raw Vegan

mangoes_05.26.10.jpgThe past several days I’ve been on a green kick (of the vegetable variety) and so you’ll find garden greens sprouting up in a variety of my dishes. I love experimenting in the kitchen. It’s so much fun coming up with a new recipes that’s not only delicious too eat but is healthy too.

A few years ago I created this recipe and published it on my foodie blog. I decided to repost the actual raw vegan recipe here. My daughters been craving mangoes and so I think I’ll be picking up a few from the store and recreating this recipe later this week The first time I made this dish, my daughter gobbled everything. I was able to get about a tablespoon. I guess it was good stuff, right?

Mango Pudding With A Kick

  • 1 medium sized mango – cubed
  • 2 overly ripe bananas
  • 1″ ginger

Directions

  1. Add all ingredients to a food processor
  2. Blend until smooth
  3. Enjoy

kale.05.26.10.jpg

Constant Craving: Green Leafy Vegetables

As I mentioned at the beginning… lately, I’ve been on a ‘greens kick’. Eating greens hasn’t really been an issue for myself, since they’ve always been a part of my lifestyle. At one point, I do remember I wasn’t too fond of kale, however introducing it slowly into dishes I loved gradually changed my taste for them and I grew to enjoy eating them.

Kale, now has a prominent spot in my garden. Perhaps later today I’ll include a green smoothie recipe. It’s healthy and sweet even if a few of the ingredients are greens (kale & collards.) The greens doesn’t alter the yummy goodness of the smoothie and is a welcome addition to the sugary drinks that have no nutritional benefit.

k.d. lang: Constant Craving

I’ve always enjoyed listening to k.d. Lang. She has a beautiful voice. Watching her interviews, she has always come across as extremely approachable and very comfortable with herself. I’ve always liked that. Although their are many songs I enjoy by her, I decided to include one of the first songs I heard by her. Enjoy!

Lyrics
Constant Craving
by kd lang

Even through the darkest phase
Be it thick or thin
Always someone marches brave
Here beneath my skin

Constant craving
Has always been

Maybe a great magnet pulls
All souls towards truth
Or maybe it is life itself
That feeds wisdom
To its youth

Constant craving
Has always been

Craving
Ah ha
Constant craving
Has always been

Constant craving
Has always been
Constant craving
Has always been

Craving
Ah ha
Constant craving
Has always been
Has always been
Has always been
Has always been
Has always been
Has always been

Technorati Tags:
Vegan, vegetarian, Raw food, Recipes

MMORPG Gaming: Taking a break before burning out

burnt-out-hippie.gifI’m sure we’ve all been there, right? No matter how much we love something. We need to take five and step away from something we enjoy and focus on other things.

This time that happened with gaming. I’ve been an avid gamer since I was a child. In the early years, three to about ten, it was the board games. I have so many fond memories of playing Don’t tip the Waiter, Jaws, Twister, Uno, Candyland, etc., with my brother. My parents would join in too. We had our own little community of gamers, and it was a blast. You know something, I’m carrying on that tradition with my daughter. It’s a great time to simply hang out with my wonderful little girl, act silly, and do something she truly enjoys! I love it.

When I turned eleven our parents purchased us a Commodore 64, and we moved on to computer games. Naturally (graphic-wise) the early 80’s games were a far cry from the games you see today. However, back then, those graphics were sitting on top of the world.

I have great memories playing alongside my brother waiting for my chance to play some of the single player games. I remember at times literally on the edge of my seat as I watched my brother tackle various obstacles. I did that when I was gaming too. It was a great feeling, holding our breath, hoping we could just finish our objective before… we ran out of time or went splat! We encouraged each other, laughed when we made stupid mistakes in games like OilsWells, Mission Impossible, Ghostbusters, Loadrunner, etc., Although we loved games, we didn’t spend too much time playing them. We loved the outdoors too much. That still holds true to this day. I love gaming but I love being outdoors even more.

You know what? At that age, at times it could be hard to think of each other when we were playing a great game, but we managed to work it out and think of others too.

But I’m rambling… (I hope you get the picture though) I love gaming. I’m not too much of a television watcher. Weeks and months can roll past without me watching anything. The same holds true with my daughter, but I don’t mind gaming for a few hours weekly.

Oh yeah back to taking a break, as much as I enjoy playing World of Warcraft I decided to take a break. No, I don’t hate the game. I still enjoy it. I just need a break, yah know? Taking breaks from a particular game is something I’ve always done. It’s my insurance policy that I won’t leave a game that I truly love prematurely simply because I was burnt out.

The social aspects of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying games) are simply amazing and I have to admit that does appeal to me. If it didn’t I would only play my single FPS games on my Macbook Pro or Xbox 360, right? But, at times I don’t want to play multi-player games and this just happens to be one of those times.

I’ve met some amazing folks from MMORPG’s, and those I’ve connected with I still keep in contact with outside the game. At times, interest can change (and that’s ok!) or people get busy in the real world and put their gaming aside (rightfully so.) However, since we have established a connection I don’t miss them when they leave a game since I still chat with them now and again outside of the game.

Sometimes in the real world, we need to take a break or tackle things in a different way. For example, I enjoy working out and am in very good shape. However, I don’t like doing the same fitness routines all the time, and so I constantly switch up. Keeps me interested, and I’m not doing the same boring workout, and still staying in amazing shape. That’s pure win right there!

The above picture made me chuckle. It’s sort of the images I get when I think of a person being ‘burnt out’. I’m definitely not hating on the hippies. My friends and even my family too often refer to me as a tree-hugging hippy. What with the dreadlocs, vegananism, green lifestyle… I guess I’m an easy mark (or at least in their eyes.) 😉

Technorati Tags:
Mac games, MacBook Pro, MMORPG, WoW

Not your ordinary Momma

Hello, how yah doing?

Earlier this morning I decided to create this website. I claimed my virtual spot on the WordPress community and a few seconds later Celebrate Life was born.

Based on the title, it’s obvious I’m a mom. If you want to get specific…I’m a single mom to a wonderful seven year old girl. Oh by the way, little momma just turned seven a few days ago and is quite proud of that accomplishment.

I’m not new to blogging or the intranet. I’ve been active within the interet scene since the early-mid 90’s. I’ve have/had numerous blogs/websites over the years too. A few years ago I let several of my websites die. The real world got extremely busy and I didn’t have time to devote to the type of writing I had been doing to keep those websites maintained and so I let my web hosting run out.

Naturally that didn’t stop me from writing, and you could find me writing about gaming (one of my not so guilty pleasures) a few months later, and there I wrote well over a year. Recently I’ve been thinking about bringing back my other blogs/websites (although under different names) and see what happens.

What can you expect to see at Celebrate Life!?
Basically whatever I’m interested in. What is Celebrate Life! interested in. Well the list is long, but I’ll list a few things…

  • Family
  • Fitness
  • Nutrition
  • Veganism
  • Apple (yeah I have a few Mac computers)
  • Volunteering

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you soon. I still have some organizing to do before it feels like my virtual home. 😉