Vegetarian dinners?

I am looking for quick, easy and yummy vegetarian dinners. I have found that all my vegetarian recipes are either variations of beans and rice or pasta. We have not given up meat, we are still omnivores, but we are now participating in Meatless Mondays.

It recently came to my attention that Brian’s cholesterol is too high.

When I say it came to my attention, I mean that I spent an entire afternoon freaking out that his life insurance was going to cost more than mine, significantly more. Now I know I am not the picture of health, but I always thought Brian was. After all, he was a soldier and had to pass physicals and fitness tests for his ‘job.’ And now they were telling me that his risk of death was so high that we could only afford the ‘minimum’ life insurance. I was sure he was going to die any day and leave me and our as yet to be adopted child, homeless and penniless and living in pioneer park.

I decided that something had to be done. And not just talk about increasing the produce in our diets and decreasing the take out. It was time for a real change. I declared that we were going to start Meatless Mondays and Fish Fridays.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Meatless Mondays is a movement. Whoo Hoo we are part of a movement. There is a website and everything: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ Cutting meat one day a week saves money, your health, and the environment.

One day a week is good for me. I have tried vegetarianism and found that I came to a better understanding of my body and how it works, and mine works best with some meat. But that was many many years ago, and I don’t think I was doing much cooking then.

So anyone have any good vegetarian recipes? If not it looks like an omelet for dinner this Monday.

P.S. we had our black beans in a rice and bean burrito this week. Yummy.

Doesn’t add up to a hill of beans

One of our garden experiments this year has been dry or field beans. We tried a variety of kidney and a black bean. We tired just one square of each, that’s what you do with an experiment, start small and see how it goes. We planted with visions of homemade chili made with our very own beans.


As an experiment it was a great success. I harvested our beans yesterday. They were easy and grew well without much fuss. They dried nicely and are lovely if I do say so.

As a harvest, I have to say I am not sure if this was a grand idea. You can see how well we did. These are quart jars for scale. We may have just over a cup if we put them together.


I don’t know how much space we would have to dedicate to beans to get a real harvest, but at least a 4X4 box, maybe more.


We will have to think about this one.


Our corn is also ready to harvest! Unfortunately because we were not thinking when we planted it, it is all ready now. We didn’t like the frozen corn on the cob we tried last year so I will need to find a different preservation method. Any suggestions?

Good news!

Today has been a really challenging day. We don’t have bad days at Team Schiele World Headquarters- ask Brian. But today came close. I couldn’t shake the blues- I buried myself in work, got a dash of endorphins with exercise, ate some good food with some great company, we even went to a book store. I just couldn’t find the sun today.

Until the mail came.

We are now officially licensed to foster a child! I have the certificate to prove it.

I Want Closure!

I will never read another series until it is complete. Why- the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

I started reading this series in 1991 when the first book in the series found its way into my hands. I love it. For years I would watch the publisher’s website waiting for the next book to come out, only to buy it on opening day and devour it. I was in love with Perrin, the man with the soul of a wolf; with golden eyes, a strong arm, and a soft heart. Of course I loved the main character, Rand who was born to save the world. I loved the fantasy and adventure. I loved to read about the main characters and watch as they grew up.

I gave the book to friends and family and had so much fun discussing plot twists, and character development. At one time I got so frustrated with a plot twist that I threw the book at the wall, scream out loud, then ran to pick up the book and keep reading.

As time went on the books came out less regularly and were less satisfying. One of the main characters has been pregnant for the last three books. Finally, the author died of a rare blood cancer. Augh! Now how will I know how the world was saved? So may questions, with no one to answer them.

Luckily he left an outline of how the story is to end and the last 3 books are being written. The next should be out this fall sometime, perhaps just in time for me to decompress after the fall conference. There is even talk of the first book being made into a move.

But still, current projections have this series at 15 books over 20 years. That is a long time to be caught in a story.

At one time I didn’t want the story to end. Now I just want closure.

Happy Independence Day

I love the 4th of July. We get to become fans of the constitution, freedom, and the armed forces on our face book pages. We gather with friends and family and eat chicken and corn and try to explain to the children what the words of the constitution mean. Flags wave and our inner pyromaniacs come out to play.

Last night we had a small group of family (only 20) to Team Schiele World Headquarters. It was a great time and if you would like some homemade root beer, bring over a pitcher. Brian was an amazing grill sergeant, but has decided d its time for a larger grill. The fireworks show lasted about 20 minutes longer then moms and dads wanted and about 20 minutes short of what the kids wanted. Thanks to some great neighbors for adding their cheers to ours.

We have had the Ohio sharp family here the last couple of days and I have loved it! It was so fun to play with baby Emma and see what great parents Mike and Amy are. We had a lot of fun feeding them and hope they were not too board with us old folk. That baby is so sweet and good natured! Even her cry is sweet. But of course I am a little biased.

It was this weekend that for me spring officially ended and summer began. It had nothing to do with the date on the calendar, but the state of the garden. We finished off the June bearing strawberries and the lettuce is trying to bolt. There are no more flowers on the peas, so what is on those vines is all we will have this year. The first zucchini and the first summer squash should be ready to eat in a few days and the tomatoes and corn are growing fast.

After all the family stuff we needed a date so today we went to the latest X Men offering at the dollar flick. It was a great time holding hands and eating popcorn in the dark. So if you could pick a ‘mutation’ or ‘super power’ what would it be? Brian wants to be the ability to fly, or be able to heal himself and others. I can’t figure out what I want. Any suggestions?

Foster care/Adoption update

Our interview and inspection went well. HOWEVER- we are not finished.

We have 4 items on our new to-do list.

· Smoke Detector on the bedroom level – I swear we had one up there. I crossed it off the original list. Guess I was wrong. (Look Brian, in writing, me admitting to being wrong.)
· New fire extinguisher – as feared, our s is not the right rating.
· Get the cats Vaccinated- Never thought of that. Our poor boys have not seen a vet in an embarrassingly long time.
· Have my doctor call her- she has some questions – I will need to get to the doctor’s office to sign a release first. This is what I get for getting sick all the time.

This list seems very reasonable and short compared to what we started with.

Then this is what happens:
Our licensing specialist writes a report. The report is signed off by a supervisor. Our licensing specialist comes back to check off the above list and then sends everything to DCFS with a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

If we get thumbs down, we will receive a letter with an explanation. We can appeal or make changes as needed (or willing.)

If we get thumbs up, we will be contacted by a case worker who will need to come and visit with both of us for another long interview. This caseworker will be responsible for matching us with a child and be our advocate in the process. A different case worker is responsible for being an advocate for the child.

Once we have met with our advocate, we wait for a placement.

*Sigh*

Tell me a story

I have almost given up reading fiction. For one thing there is almost always something I am curious about. I usually have at least one nonfiction book by my bed. Whether its gardening, health care, self improvement, there is something I want to know more about.

Also, I have too many magazine subscriptions. I can’t read them all, but can’t decide which to get rid of. They clutter my house in various stages of consumption. I have Elle Décor, Entrepreneur and Good Housekeeping in one bathroom, Good Housekeeping and Bette r Homes and Gardens in the other bathroom, Organic gardening and another Elle Décor by the bed, Organic Gardening and Mother Earth News in the kitchen, and a stack of magazines I haven’t started in the living room. This stack in the living room includes a few months of Planning Magazine that I know I will not read but can’t quite get rid of.

So it’s not that I am not reading. Right now I am fascinated with The End of Overeating by David Kessler. I ordered it the first day it came out after hearing 2 interviews with the author. When I finish I will happily share as everyone should read this book. It is a scientific exploration of the way sugar fat and salt affects the brain. Did you know that foods high in sugar fat and salt actually alter your brain chemistry? This book explains my cheeseburger cravings.

But I am left hungry for a good story. Fiction was my drug of choice for most of my life. It provided an escape from whatever, heartache, problems, confusion, or boredom I was suffering. If the book is well written it is a bonus, but it had to have a good enough story to keep my brain focused. And now I find fiction is failing me. It is becoming rarer that I really enjoy a book, even a ‘good’ book. I read two books on my last vacation and while they were both well written, interesting stories, I didn’t love them. The stories were not enough to hold me. They were both more about the emotional exploration of the characters then about the story.

I spent hours at Barnes and Noble yesterday looking for something to read. I finally did pick up something from the discount table on my way to the cash register. (I was buying something for work) I bought Ret Butlers People, the companion to Gone with the Wind, one of the first books that changed me. 0ther books I looked at where too short, too much sap and not enough substance, too dark, or just plain not relatable.

So now I am left to wonder- is it just me? Am I getting old and jaded? Did my earlier reading frenzies burn out the love? Do I watch too many movies?

Or is the art of the story being lost?

What is the last book that captured your imagination?