July Updates

Quickie check-in with updates, though the main one is that I'm about halfway done with editing and polishing my upcoming release, DISTANT FIRE, which is Book 2 of THE JOYFUL NOISE SERIES. Very possibly won't be releasing Book 3, FOR THE LOVE OF SUMMER, until September. That will conclude this Christian romance novel series, and then I'll be working on another Christian mainstream, very different than my previous books, and probably a period piece.

Don't forget: In case you haven't read Book 1 of the series yet, UNCONDITIONAL is a perma-free book. Get yours now!

That's the writing/books update.

On the personal front, I've become quite the baker! Thanks to Pinterest, I *finally* found a sourdough starter that I liked and didn't mess up, and here it is. Plus, I lucked out and found a wonderful sourdough bread recipe, and you'll find that here. That was a hit with my family, especially my granddaughter, Aubrey, who wanted some to take home with her.

An interesting note: I had no eggs available when I made the bread recipe and substituted 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce. My husband, Bill, didn't know that and was pleasantly surprised, saying it had just a hint of sweetness. Just FYI, in case you want to skip the egg when making this one! It was easy and the dough was less sticky than some I've seen, easy to work with, though you do need about 3 to 4 hours for rising/baking.

While we're on the subject, want something light, healthy, summery and a great side dish for lunch or dinner? Here's a fabulous tomato & cucumber salad! And again, I made a change to it by replacing the feta with about 1/4 cup (but you can certainly use more or less) of grated Asiago cheese.

One more note: Thanks to K9Instinct, I also did some baking for Piper and Lassie. With no coconut flour on hand, I made it with all-purpose flour, the type I always have on hand. The girls LOVED it. Note: Thanks to a friend of mine, Mary, for the tip to freeze half the recipe, since these are fresh and made without preservatives, so you can take them down when you need them for your furbabies.

So there are my July 2014 updates for books-on-the-way...and yummy things to whip up in your kitchen.

Recipe from Pinterest

And now for something totally different!

I guess you could say this is my own recipe, since I changed it up so much from the original. But let's give credit where credit is due & give you the original, coming from Sparkpeople. I introduce to you from Sparkpeople--tada!--Roasted Vegetable Casserole with Panko and Parmesan Topping. The above pic was taken with a few twists from Connie Keenan's Kitchen.

This was whipped up on the fly for a dinner held at another family member's home. Now here were the changes that I made, because I used what I had on hand, and isn't that easier sometimes?

* The recipe called for sweet potatoes; I used white potatoes, peeled, rinsed and cut into bite-sized pieces

* I omitted the mushrooms and brussel sprouts, instead using yellow squash from our garden

* Instead of corn off the cob, I drained a can of niblets and tossed them in

* No celery, no chestnuts, though next time I'll have both on hand when I make this, because that sounds great

* No Panko on hand, so I used regular Italian breadcrumbs and instead of Parmesan, sprinkled a blend of Parmesan and Romano

* Instead of regular extra virgin, which I DID have on hand, I substituted this infused olive oil, which is delicious on salads with balsamic vinegar in place of commercial dressing

* The tomato, which was a fresh Roma, was added the last 20 minutes or so

* The onion in my dish was a Vidalia (they're so sweet!)

* Also, I added baking time, around another 40 minutes or a little more, for the potatoes to be done and roasty

So there you have it. My version of this recipe, which I found on Pinterest. (Thanks to my daughter-in-law, Yesica, who introduced me to Pinterest, and now it's a favorite of mine for recipe-hunting.) Do try the original or use what you have on hand and let me know how it turns out! Oh--I should add that it smells DELICIOUS baking in your oven. Very heart-healthy side dish and you can use up the veggies in your garden.

You can omit the cheese with its calories, but ahhhh, you only live once! Enjoy!

My Very Own Master Gardener

Okay, full disclosure here: My husband, Bill (the handsome guy pictured below) is the master gardener in this household. This year we got REALLY adventurous and decided to try our hand at growing a variety of fruits and vegetables, with a focus on SALAD!

So what's out there getting watered, sunned & loved, then devoured before the main course each night? Well, we've got iceberg lettuce...Romaine...red and green field lettuce...tomatoes...green & sweet peppers. And, not tyically used for salad, but we've also got strawberries, blueberries, grapes, broccoli, cucumbers, and a variety of spices including cilantro.

Our berries aren't doing too well, though I'm told the garden lizards think they're utterly divine, and the grapes and the tomatoes aren't anywhere near ready, but the lettuce is making an appearance on our table DAILY! Obviously, lettuce alone does not a salad make, so we hit up the local farmers' market today for fresh mixings like chopped red onions, hothouse tomatoes and radishes.

And while I baked my first classic pound cake from scratch--a recipe that is delish, and you can find it right here--Bill fixed some homemade salsa, also from scratch. I happened to pick up the Mission tortilla chips on a recent trip to the supermarket, since we've always liked Mission's other products, and how better to enjoy them than with some salsa you whip up in your own kitchen? Did I mention our homegrown cilantro came in very handy? Yep. The hubby told me, "How'd we get into all this fresh, homemade stuff, anyway??? Is that what happens when you grow your own garden?"

Who knows? But it sure beats the processed stuff!

More Intuitive Eating Adventures!

Nine months now & counting. If it was a relationship, I'd have to say it's not just a fling anymore!

I promised to check back in on intuitive eating, so here I am. To this day, I have yet to count a calorie, point, carb or anything else, and yet my weight is now fluctuating between 128 and 130. Since my weight had gone as high as 138, that's been interesting to me. The only thing that I have changed is that I've started going back more regularly to the gym, and that's because I notice that I feel better on the whole when I go to the gym. The key word there is regularly--I'm not exercising obsessively.

Did going back to the gym speed up my metabolism, hence the loss of 10 pounds? Honestly, I don't know. I tend to think it has more to do with the fact that at this point in my journey with intuitive eating, I'm no longer stress-eating, i.e. treating a chocolate sundae like a therapist after a rough day at work. Something else is that I've stopped thinking of eating as something done on a weekly cycle, with a weekly allotment of points, so if I "mess up" I then have a feast day and glumly decide I'll start over the next day, only to "mess up" again two days later. As any ex-dieter can tell you, nothing will pile on the pounds and keep them on more than emotional eating and the I've-messed-up-but-I'll-do-better-tomorrow-so-pass-the-Doritos mentality.

Now it's like that old Christian song goes: one day at a time. Obviously, that's not just a good way to approach intuitive eating, but that's a good way to live! I no longer have an "allowance" of points or calories that I'm "permitted" to eat each day, with some surplus at the end of the week as a "reward" for being good. At this stage, looking back at dieting, that's a bizarre way to live. It's almost like life revolving around food...which it doesn't.

Instead of an allowance, now I have FREEDOM! I have a long way to go on this journey, but I've come to the point where I trust myself. Food is no longer The Enemy. I can go out to a get-together at a restaurant with friends and not worry about eating "point-friendly" meals. On the contrary: I have what...I...want. Not what I'm "allowed" to have or what I'm "supposed" to have.

In light of the fact that I now look at a fresh salad served with a light vinagrette dressing with the same anticipation as a Dairy Queen Blizzard--and sometimes I consider the salad more inviting--why would I ever want to return to the frustration, expense and enslavement of dieting?

Would you believe that I'm also trying out more recipes now than I ever did before? Here's one I found for zucchini bread that is out of this world! Our garden was producing more zucchinis than we could humanly eat (even with giving some away to friends and family), but look what happens when you add some cinnamon, flower, walnuts and other ingredients!

I have no idea how many calories are in it. But I do know a slice of it goes perfectly with a great cup of coffee and it makes a good, filling breakfast!

Next time: Some interesting observations about intuitive eating, otherwise known as how we were really meant to eat before the multi-billion dollar diet industry told us we were doing it all wrong.

Till next time!